i\\n 



A. MEMORIAL 



OF THE 



EV. AJJSTILCMIG, D. 



n 



^>^LATE PREjJDjENT OF THE 



CHRISTIAN BIBLICAL INSTITUTE, 






STfiNFnKHUILLE, K, Y, T 



lantaining a Bin graphical Sketch and Thoughts Selected 

from his Biblical and other Lectures, phe.noirash- 

;: : -- \; rerje:ed :_ :::j _"-", /j, ,' UJrig'hi 

and edited by him conjointly with 

Prof, Selah Howell A, M, 



'fbM 



)! 



PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHORS BY THE 

CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, 
Dayton, Ohio. •• 
1S85. 







Copyright, 1SS-I, 
By SELAH HOWELL and OTIS O. WRIGHT. 



o 

J 

i 



CONTENTS, 

PAGE. 

I. Religion 27 

II. Politics 08 

III. Education 78 

IV. Language 91 

V. Science and Religion 117 

VI. History 122 

VII. The Story of the World 136 

VIII. Marriage and Divorce ........... 156 

IX. The Devil 164 

X. Demons 172 

XI. False Prophecy 179 

XII. The Divine Judgment 197 

XIII. The Resurrection and the Life 210 

XIV. Miscellaneous 223 



PREFACE, 



Austin Craig was doubtless what Horace Mann 
once styled him — u a religious genius." His whole 
nature ran to thinking, and his thought was essential- 
ly spiritual. The Bible was to him the great text- 
book of life— divine and human — and all that he 
knew, and all that he w T as, were concentrated in 
him in finding out God's meaning. He possessed 
great intuitive powers, and was susceptible of the 
highest inspiration; and, accordingly, his best thoughts 
were spontaneous. 

Writing was a dreaded task, but he delighted 
to talk; and, when in his usually happy mood, 
would sit by the hour with the Holy Scriptures on 
his knees, and let the great living thoughts pour 
forth like an overflowing fountain. We were some- 
times careful not to suggest any topic of interest, 
unless we had ample time to wait for the con- 



6 PREFACE. 

elusion. How much we have wished that he had 
written! But there is comparatively little left of 
his work, save as it is recorded in the hearts of the 
few who knew him. 

At the suggestion of friends I have undertaken 
the selection of a few of his most characteristic 
thoughts, preserved in lecture-notes, taken during a 
four years' course of study at the Christian Biblical 
Institute. The verbatim reports, from which these 
selections are made, contain the essential thoughts 
of his lectures; or, as Dr. Craig would have called 
them, u nest eggs." 

His method was unique. He believed that theology 
had been too much "cut and dried;" and (partially 
from necessity, perhaps) he combined the whole 
curriculum in one chair, so that his lectures were 
at once doctrinal, devotional, homiletical, and prac- 
tical. Therefore, many of these excerpts are not 
necessarily connected, nor logical to each other, but 
simply suggestive. His lectures being principally 
expository in form, the subject matter reported, in 
many cases, was necessarily brief. 

The editors arc conscious that out of the abundance 
of material at their command others might have se- 



PREFACE. 7 

lected very differently. We have aimed simply to 
present a comprehensive variety, and .to have Dr. 
Craig speak for himself on his favorite themes in his 
own peculiar style, whether or not we agree entirely 
with his sentiments and opinions, or approve of 
his modes of expression. 

It is hoped that this little volume may serve to 
encourage some one to undertake the publication of 
a larger work, containing a complete biography and 
a full collection of all his thoughts, which may have 
been preserved. 

o. o. w. 



mim 






%m^t%m %%^%^ r HL H< 



In the Herald of Gospel Liberty, September 20, 1879, 
appeared a brief sketch of Austin Craig. The last para- 
graph of that article was as follows : 4 ' The trustees of 
the Institute — the Christian Biblical Institute — will, I 
am sure, pardon the writer for saying that they could 
not make a wiser outlay of money than to employ for 
four years a short-hand reporter, whose business it should 
be to take down every word of each lecture delivered by 
Dr. Craig. And it had better be done now. In a few 
years it may be too late. For, with all his stalwart faith 
and Christian fortitude he may not be able to bear for 
long the great grief that has fallen upon him.' 7 

Alas ! the sad premonition of the last sentence was 
soon the dread reality. Ere two years had gone Austin 
Craig was dead. He had lived less than three-score 
years. But he is dead ; and what has he left to perpetu- 
ate his memory? It may be possible to answer the 
question before the close of this sketch. 

In fairness the author of this biography should state 
that only prominent traits of Mr. Craig's character and 
the chief events of his life and work can be considered. 
The few pages at his command necessarily limit the 
sketch to the exclusion of all minutice. And yet it 



10 BIOGRAPHY OF 

should be said that in these very details most of interest 
would he found. His was not a life of either varied 
experience in any calling or romantic adventure. Very 
little, as the world goes, had he seen of the world. A 
vacation trip to New Orleans, one winter during his early 
ministry in Blooming Grove, Xew York, was the longest 
journey he ever made. Aside from this, his journeys — 
entirely those of business — never extended beyond six 
or eight hundred miles, in closely bordering states. Of 
the great West, he knew nothing from his own observa- 
tion beyond the State of Ohio. He was never called 
upon to fill a position entailing great responsibility. Of 
the world of business he knew but little. 

The business man, in his aspirations, methods, and 
limitations, he did not and could not, from the necessi- 
ties of his nature, understand. 

And the world of fashion, how lost on him was that I 
Polite society did not exist for him. His thought and 
effort did not lie in that direction. Yet it must not be 
inferred that he did not possess to an eminent degree 
many social gifts. The best in the land would have 
gladly opened their doors to this noble gentleman, whose 
keen wit, brilliant conversational powers, and gentle, 
kindly manners were as conspicuous as his profound 
knowledge of great subjects and spiritual insight were 
remarkable. But at the doors of the leaders of society 
Mr. Craig never knocked. 

Of the world of the poet and novelist, the artist and 
musician, it is safe to say that their world was not his 
world. He could neither sing nor play on any musical 
instrument. The u Messiah " and the Ninth Symphony 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 11 

were but a confused Babel of sounds for him. They had 
no meaning. It was the music of the celestial spheres ; 
alone which fired his soul. 

The immortal works of art, in sculpture, painting, and 
architecture, he cared little or nothing for; and the 
absolute devotion of the true artist to his calling he 
possibly could not, at least never professed to, under- 
stand. The beautiful in nature and art he rarely talked 
about ; and it did not in his youth or manhood exert any 
appreciable influence on his character. 

The writer once heard him assert that he [Mr. Craig] 
had in his youth read " cart loads of novels; ?? but after 
the great awakening in his life, which happened before 
he was twenty years old, his reading and thought were 
of a far different nature. 

He did not live a romantic or tragic life, though it was 
not without its keen disappointments. The most of his 
life was spent in the country, among farmers and small 
villagers, where he was the learned man. With the 
exception of the comparatively short time he was con- 
nected with Antioch College, he never was in daily inter- 
course with his peers in learning and intellectual power. 
These, and other limitations of his life and character, 
must be understood in all their varied influences before 
a just estimate can be formed of his great powers of- 
mind and heart. 

It is the fortune of few men and women to be able to 
bring to the battle of life such physical, mental, and 
moral endowments as Austin Craig inherited. A favorite 
saying of his was that " blood tells in men as well as in 



12 BIOGRAPHY OF 

horses; " and of the truth of this he himself might well 
have boasted. 

From the father he inherited height, both of body 
and head ; from the mother, a fine-grained, wiry organi- 
zation ; and from both, those intellectual and moral 
powers that made him the man we loved and honored. 
Mr. Craig's tall and rather thin form suggested frailty of 
'constitution. But his organization was of unusually 
tough material. Silk, steel wire, entered into its compo- 
sition — material that would bend, stretch, but not break, 
unless forever. Endowed with this fine-grained, tough, 
nervous temperament, with abundant breathing and 
digestive capacities, he withstood, with but slight inter- 
ruptions from ill health — except in the early months of 
1879, "when many thought him sick unto death," — forty 
years of the most exhausting and dangerous habits of 
study. Many times he said to the writer, with pathetic 
earnestness, " Do not study nights ; " and the only expla- 
nation of the mournful cadence in his voice could be 
found from the fact that he often studied all night, and 
indeed seldom went to bed until the morning of the day 
on which he arose. He did not w T ork with the phleg- 
matic ease of the German, though his manner w T as quiet 
when mentally engaged, but with all his powers bent to 
the task. His fatigue was, therefore, great after his pro- 
tracted hours of study and thought. Many men, indeed 
most men, of like habits of study and mental labor, die 
before reaching two-score years or linger on in nervous 
prostration, mentally and physically useless ; but he lived 
and worked, with extravagant waste of vital force, until 
nearly sixty years passed over his head. The wonder is 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIOf. 13 

that he was not more bent and his head whiter with th& 
crowning glory of age. Such physical powers are rare, 
very rare. 

Mr. Craig's head and face would have arrested atten- 
tion in any company of men. They were of that cosmo- 
politan cast that gives no hint of age or race. You 
thought, as you studied their lineaments, of Jonathan 
Edwards, Mendelssohn, John Stuart Mill, Dr. Combe,, 
the brothers Grimm, Schopenhauer, William Ellery 
Channing, and Victor Hugo. It was the face and head 
of a man equal to any intellectual feat, and an intensity 
and loftiness of spiritual exaltation rare among the rarest. 

It should not be forgotten, in our efforts to understand 
the character of Dr. Craig, that he was born, and that he 
lived, the most of his life, in the country, removed from 
the centers of intellectual activity. Some men are easily 
read, for there is not much to read. Their story is a 
simple children's rhyme, soon and easily told. But not 
so with our friend. His intellectual and moral structure 
w T as many-sided; built on a large plan, solid, capacious, 
lofty-towered — a Gothic cathedral, the cross for its foun- 
dation, spire and pinnacle reaching high heavenward. 

Few understood the height and depth of his character ; 
fewer still could follow him through the mazes of his. 
intellectual wanderings, or comprehend the catholicity 
of his great mind. But his intellectual powers, in addi- 
tion to their strength and comprehensiveness, were 
marked by certain peculiarities, due, in great measure,, 
to his manner of life. 

For many years, during his early ministry, he was 
pastor of a congregation of uncommon general intelli- 



14 BIOGRAPHY OF 

gence and enrolling among its members several men and 
women that had had opportunities for wide culture. 
The congregation had been accustomed to sermons 
allowing great freedom in the choice of subjects and 
manner of treatment, but insisting on two prime quali- 
ties : First, that the subject should be biblical, and, sec- 
ond, that the discussion should be exhaustive. They 
were familiar with sermons an hour and a half long, 
demanding only that the ability shown in the handling 
of the discourse be conspicuous. The preacher was 
absolutely free so long as he did not force upon his 
hearers the dogmatic theology of Calvin and his disci- 
ples. They had had that, and, as an old deacon, with a 
grim shake of his head, said, would have no more of it. 
The preacher might treat any question of the day, pro- 
viding he had biblical authority for its sanction ; but his 
manner and matter must not be flippant or sensational. 
No cheap sentimentalism or tearful piety would be toler- 
ated ; but there must be gravity, dignity, reverence, 
masterly exposition, irresistible logic, profound learning, 
and an all-consuming conviction of the priceless value 
of the truth. 

There were men in the congregation mighty, too, in 
prayer, and their pastor's prayers were expected to be 
the outpourings of a soul accustomed, like Noah of old, 
to walk with God. 

The church-building was a fitting structure for such a 
congregation and such a preacher as the people demanded 
and found in the tall, keen-eyed young man, Austin 
Craig, whom my father, in my early youth, pointed out 
to me one cold morning in March. 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 15 

On a high hill stood, and still stands — may it always 
stand ! — the great white church, which, every Sunday in 
the year, opened its doors to all who found in it rest and 
hope. Simplicity itself in architecture, without post or 
gallery to obstruct the view, its one huge room offering 
comfortable seats to more than a thousand people, and 
its broad aisles and generous passages bespeaking safety 
and comfort — the church itself was inspiring. Above 
the church and on considerably higher ground stood the 
parsonage. My pen could easily linger long in the 
description of the beautiful and even sublime scenery in 
clear view from the windows of the white house which 
stood so high above the surrounding country that more 
than one of the deacons, on his farm far off', could see 
the light in his pastor's study. My pen falters, gathers 
energy in the contemplation, and still hesitates to 
attempt to describe what is so nearly indescribable. 

The young preacher was required to give but one ser- 
mon on Sunday, and there was no Sunday-school, nor 
for a long time was there a weekly prayer-meeting. His 
one Sunday service, except of course the funeral and 
marriage ceremonies, was the one public expression of 
the might within him required by the people. It is quite 
easy to infer how such a combination of circumstances, 
lasting nearly fourteen years, would affect the whole 
subsequent career of such a young man as Austin Craig 
then was. A man of even fair intellectual strength 
could not have stood the test. A superficial thinker, 
however brilliant in style, could not have supplied the 
food on which these men and women of Blooming 
Grove, New York, for more than fifty years had fed. A 



1(> BIOGRAPHY OF 

lazy or physically enfeebled man would have finished his 
course soon. But health, energy, diligence, and enthu- 
siasm for high and holy things kept continually alive 
and burning, knowledge of the sources of the best 
materials of scholarship were quietly assumed by his 
congregation as a part, at least, of the necessary qualifi- 
cations of their pastor. Mr. Craig did not disappoint his 
flock. Here, without doubt, were intensified, if not 
formed, those habits of protracted study and self-con- 
templation which often made his sermons and lectures 
mere monologues, lasting for hours, unless interrupted 
by some jarring necessity. His prayers were veritable 
"talks" with God. 

In Blooming Grove there was none of the distractions 
of city life. The nearest village was three miles away, 
and the demands of social life were at a minimum. The 
long days of summer, lasting with him until pretty 
nearly through the night, and the long nights of winter, 
lasting pretty nearly through the day, were all his own 
for study and profound meditation — a perfect abandon 
if intellectual and religious fervor. The doves sporting 
above me in the stillness and beauty of this summer day 
are not more free than he was. Fearlessly they launch 
forth and fly, now straight as an arrow, now in the 
widest, wildest, grandest sweeps, and now soaring high 
liea veil ward until lost to sight in the celestial blue. 

His sermons were wonderful discourses — wonderful 
for their intellectual brilliancy and power and exalted 
religious pathos. The narrow-minded, sordid man could 
not follow him. It was quite as necessary to prepare to 
listen to such sermons as it was for the preacher to 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 17 

preach them. One old deacon, beside whom the writer 
used to sit, found it expedient to omit the heaA^y Sunday 
morning breakfast, and by rising early and devoting 
himself to prayer and meditation upon holy things, get 
himself, as he said, "fit to listen." The service was 
usually about two hours long, sermon and prayer occu- 
pying the most of this time. Yet often the expounding 
of the scripture lesson was itself the sermon. One Sun- 
day morning, when a large congregation had gathered, 
the minister entered his pulpit, opened the Bible, and 
began to read. He soon closed the book, and, without 
further ceremony or any other apology, preached his 
sermon and dismissed the people. When asked about 
the rather queer proceeding, by one of the deacons, he 
remarked that he [ Mr. Craig ] felt that it was a good time 
to say what he had to say, so he said it. That was the 
whole matter. 

It is doubtful whether such entire freedom was good 
for him altogether. Habits were fastened upon him 
which his pupils and hearers in after years found it 
difficult to take advantage of. 

In the brief limits of this sketch it is almost impossible 
to analyze with any satisfactory degree of fullness Mr. 
Craig's character or detail those little things, trivial in 
themselves, but of human interest. Like the stray, 
unsought-for beams of light, which, though lost in the 
central splendors, still bring to view T the background, 
the fundamental tones of the picture. As a boy, he 
was much like other boys, though precocious. He was 
quick tempered and apt to be severe when angry. His 
hasty temper he never quite mastered, and though in 



18 BIOGRAPHY OF 

mature years it was under bonds, his most intimate 
friends knew that behind the gentle, brotherly manner 
lay the possibility of a sarcasm which cut like a knife, 
and, in his youth, blows intended to hurt. At college, 
he mastered with little trouble the usual college jokes 
and had, as other boys, glorious times. He entered 
Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, when quite young, but 
never .was graduated; for, becoming absorbed in the 
doctrines of the " Millerites," he neglected his college 
duties and left before the course of study was completed. 
His intellectual independence was conspicuous even 
then. In narrating some of his college experiences to 
my father, he remarked that the college authorities 
would not let him study what he wanted to study, so 
he would not study anything they had to offer. It had 
been good for him, however, had he remained, subject- 
ing himself to the thorough drill in the few branches 
which college curricula then included. He needed it, 
and all his life was an illustration of the necessity of it. 
It was a mistake to allow a boy to thrust aside that 
which he so much needed, and lose himself in the 
vagaries of the u Millerites." His intellect needed to be 
taught to work in the harness, standing square in the 
traces. Instead, for a time it ran riot against all sorts 
of rubbish, dissipating its energies, and becoming 
freaky and obstinate. Before many years he of course 
became independent of college and college professors, 
because of the largeness of bis intellectual caliber; but 
Mr. Craig, when in the .full maturity of his great abili- 
ties, seemed not so much to be master of his intellect as 
mastered by it. It would run away with him, and for 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 19 

days and days lead him on a wild chase, until mental 
and physical weariness could go no further. 

Often, as he told my father, he would leave the par- 
sonage, only a few rods removed from the church, 
without having decided on the subject of his morning 
discourse, and wait for the inspiration of the moment to 
suggest the topic. 

He began to preach before he was twenty years old, 
and from that first attempt until his death, forty years 
after, he was a preacher. It was a dangerous experiment 
for one so young and ill-prepared. Most men, beginning 
under such conditions the great calling, become weary 
affairs long before age can offer its enfeebled apology. 
But not so with the subject of our. sketch. His great 
powers of mind and heart saved him, and although his 
intellectual powers were not under disciplined control 
and sadly crippled his usefulness, they increased in 
strength, and his hunger for knowledge was still unsatis- 
fied even to the last hours. In his case, the boy preacher 
"greAvin stature and in wisdom." The enthusiasm of 
youth did not burn itself out and leave him saddled with 
a mistaken calling; but he preached as one divinely 
called, set apart for the upbuilding of the church. 

He married somewhat late in life. Adelaide Churchill 
became his wife when he was about thirty years old, she 
a few years younger. He met her while a professor at 
Antioch College, and she one of the under-graduates. It 
was a loving union of two great souls. To add anything 
further to this statement is almost unnecessary ; but, in 
justice to the noble woman who became his wife, let it be 
known and read bv all that she was not only faithful to 



20 BIOGRAPHY OF 

every duty as wife and mother, but added to her faithful- 
ness a rare intelligence, keen wit, brilliant scholarship, 
an undying love of all noble things, great gentleness of 
spirit and manners, modesty, purity, and an affection 
that was ever seeking to express itself. A noble woman ! 
He was no more than worthy of her, and well he knew 
it. When she died, leaving him with the care of their 
six children, in failing health, and with few or none who 
understood him, the cry of his heart was, u The light of 
my life hath clean gone out." 

The details of Mr. Craig's married life, his home-life,, 
when the preacher and lecturer had laid aside his work 
and put away his tools, can not be given here from want 
of space. He was a loving father, though perhaps his 
love was not always tempered with wisdom and patient 
consideration; and in the hearts of his most intimate 
friends there can no doubt be found the beautiful 
remembrance of a scene common in his later life, that 
of the president of the Institute carrying one of his little 
ones on his back, while wheeling another in the little 
carriage, which bore evidence often that the procession 
had extended its walk to the family grocery. 

The few years he spent connected with Antioch College 
did not materially affect his character. He found no 
pleasure in discharging the duties required of a college 
president, and was equally unfitted by nature and man- 
ner of growth for the professor's chair. The drill of the 
recitation-room was irl sone to him. 

The author regrets gieitly that a detailed account can 
not be given of Mr. Craig* s brief but very interesting 
pastorate in New Telford. 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 21 

His stewardship of the u white church" marked, no 
doubt, the culmination of his powers as a preacher and 
lecturer, and the enthusiastic reception he received from 
the people of New Bedford, and particularly from the 
members of this noble parish, was never forgotten. 

Mr. Craig's last, and in many respects his most impor- 
tant work was done while president of the Christian 
Biblical Institute. Here he could study and preach to 
his heart's content. He was not a business man, yet he 
brought to the Instltue far more valuable acquisitions 
than money and the ability to manage it. Common 
men may be rich in money, but only uncommon men in 
the wealth he possessed. 

What did Mr. Craig bring to the Biblical School as its 
president and chief instructor? First, many years' expe- 
rience as a Christian minister. Second, a mind of the 
highest order, capable of coping with the most intricate 
and difficult subjects, a power of generalization not sur- 
passed by Baron Bunsen ; a logical keenness and depth, a 
profoundness of analytical insight that alone would have 
distinguished him ; an imagination so vivid and compre- 
hensive that it was ever opening new fields of thought 
and inquiry and enriching and beautifying every utter- 
ance. Third, spiritual powers of an order so high that 
one of the noblest men America ever produced, and his 
intimate friend, Horace Mann, pronounced him a relig- 
ious genius. Fourth, forty years of unceasing, intense, 
comprehensive study. Fifth, this intense study, having 
for its central object one book — the Book of all books — 
but drawing about it, as necessary helps, the best works 
on philology; history, logic, literature, and philosophy. 



22 BIOGRAPHY OF 

On the other hand, must be mentioned as vitiating- 
energies, and alloying these great traits and acquire- 
ments, those intellectual peculiarities, illustrated by the 
above-mentioned doves in their superb but oftentimes 
wide, wandering flight. His pupils of the Institute were 
not unfamiliar with the difficulty of obtaining a direct 
answer to their questions. 

One or two anecdotes may serve as illustrations of this 
uncertainty and his inability to control his own mental 
powers. While the writer was in charge of certain classes 
in the Institute, he asked the president one morning if 
he would not on the following day make his morning 
lecture as logically connected in thought as possible, that 
the students might hand an abstract of it to the teacher 
as an exercise testing their powers of memory, arrange- 
ment, etc. The president immediately expressed great 
willingness to do so, remarking that he fortunately had 
a lecture so arranged on David the king and that it would 
just fit the case. At the beginning of the hour appointed 
for the lecture, Mr. Craig said that "Seely" had wished 
him to make the morning lecture as logical as possible. 
Ah! that unfortunate word, logical. What further sug- 
gestion was needed for the profoundest analysis of John 
Stuart Mill's Logic, with which he was as familiar as 
probably Mr. Mill himself. About five minutes before 
the close of the hour David intruded himself and 
waited until a more convenient season. The students 
did not hand to the teacher an abstract of a logically 
arranged lecture on David the king, but heard instead 
the philosophical discussion of a subject so acute and 
profound that trained intellectual powers and years of 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 23 

study and thought were needed to follow. The writer 
recalls, also, one other occasion when Mr. Craig was 
preaching a series of discourses, five in number. It was 
a beautiful day in the spring, and the jmlpit so situated 
that should the door of the room open there would be 
revealed a charming view of lake, cloud, and gently 
rising landscape bordered by hills fringed with wood. 
When the text had been announced and a dozen or less 
sentences, clear as the sunlight, uttered, a tardy hearer 
entered, leaving the door wide open. The preacher 
paused a moment, and then, inspired apparently by the 
charming scene, wandered away from the path directly 
before him into the most delightful regions of poetry, 
imagination, and exalted religious fervor. The sermon 
was never, to the writer's knowledge, completed. Mr. 
Craig never could be certain where his bark, when fairly 
launched, would find a harbor, however precious the 
cargo. There were so many " magical isles" to be ex- 
plored, so many placid depths to be sounded over the 
wide sea of his horizon, that many a time and oft it 
Avas but an aimless drifting, a passive yielding to what- 
ever wind that blew. But his pupils and the members 
of his congregations uselessly complained of this intel- 
lectual habit. For, in the first place, it was so firmly 
fixed that he could not remove it. Secondly, aside from 
the difficulty of obtaining a connected line of thought 
these intellectual wanderings and moral flights were 
always rich in choice information and noble enthusi- 
asms. Those who knew him and loved him well were 
often deeply pained by the uneasy indifference and sleepy 
disregard manifested by many of his hearers, though at 



24 BIOGRAPHY OF 

the time there was a steady flow of the profoundest criti- 
cism and subtlest insight. A rare book written in advo- 
cacy of some great truth or error would be discussed in 
that quiet, almost monotonous and unmagnetic manner 
which indicates in such natures as his perfect familiarity 
with the subject under consideration. The great fallacies 
of the age, such difficult questions as the origin of man, 
the relations of spirit and matter, man and beast, — all 
these and more might follow from a sudden change in 
the position of the lecturer at his desk or an eager ques- 
tion asked by a new student. 

His lectures at the Biblical School included a compre- 
hensive list of topics, all having as their central object 
the Bible. That was the all-in-all Book to him ; man 
and his relation to God the great subject of his thought, 
his reading, and his talk. The energies of his life were 
spent on this all-including subject. History, philology, 
science, language, geography, teaching, preaching, pov- 
erty, wealth, marriage, divorce, etc. — on all these subjects 
he had something to say which was worth hearing by the 
earnest and thoughtful, but always as connected with 
and a part of the great subject. 

It would be a foolish exaggeration to suppose that Mr. 
Craig's scholarship was equally careful and profound in 
all of these great subjects. The average high-school 
graduate doubtless knows more about chemistry, geology, 
and the other sciences commonly taught, than he did, so 
far as mere terms and descriptions go; for Mr. Craig was 
in no sense a chemist or geologist. But the relation of 
these sciences to each other and the great whole of 
human knowledge, their force in civilization, in the 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 25 

<ever-onward progress of humanity toward higher and 
nobler life, — on this he thought and talked as a philoso- 
pher. He used daily, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and 
was very familiar with these three languages. The spir- 
itual significations of words, their betrayals of race and 
individual traits of character, the history of mankind, 
with its manifold experiences, its loves and hates, joys 
and sorrows, defeated ambitions, and holy aspirations 
concealed in words and revealed only to the eyes of 
genius, he saw with wonderful clearness. Of the modern 
languages he knew little, and the results of the German 
and French scholars he was obliged, therefore, to accept 
at second hand. The limitations of his scholarship 
were often as surprising to the pedantic as his deep 
research into certain great subjects was to the wise, 
extraordinary. However, there was this peculiarity, 
that often what he did not understand he singularly mis- 
understood. 

The temptation to generalize on an insufficient basis 
of fact — a temptation always peculiarly urgent to minds 
of his order— he could not resist; and the fact that he 
lived so much alone, deprived of the corrective contact 
of the man of facts and worldly experience, led him into 
absurdities to which a mind of lower grade or a more 
patient search for details would not have been exposed. 
It is necessary, therefore, to consider with care the results 
of his reading and thought, for his mind was busy almost 
exclusively with great subjects in which a false generali- 
zation Would be the more disastrous. Whatever the 
magnitude of the subject under consideration, there was 
a fascination about his manner of treatment and a child- 



26 REV; AUSTIN CRAIG. 

like simplicity of statement that disarmed criticism and 
can not be described by words. 

To the noblest, he was an inspiration ; to the unfortu- 
nate, a generous friend ; and to his pupils, with whom 
he divided the choicest treasures of his wisdom, and to 
us, who knew him and loved him, the news of his death 
came like the sighing of the wind in the loneliness of 
night. There was comfort in the thought that the last 
year of his life had been made easier for him, and the 
confusion and disorder of his home removed, by the 
wise and motherly care of his second wife, Dr. Sarah J. 
McCarn. Xor did her care cease with Dr. Craig's death ; 
but she has since done her full share in the maintenance 
and education of his homeless children. 

Austin Craig is dead. What has he left us? Memories, 
many letters, a few sermons and unfinished articles, and 
the notes of his lectures by pupils of the Biblical School. 
Of these last, the phonographic reports of Rev. O. O. 
Wright are invaluable for their fullness and complete 
preservation of the thought and manner of our dearly 
beloved teacher and brother. 

If any apology is needed for the " plainness of speech " 
found in the biography may it rest on this, that the 
author knew Mr. Craig and was known by him for more 
than a quarter of a century ; that their relations had 
been various — teacher and disciple, preacher and hearer, 
counselor and counseled, fellow-teachers, fellow-students 
of the same Book of all books, neighbors, friends, — and 

that he knew him but to love him. 

Selah Howell. 

" Ingleside," Harvard, Mass., September 11, 1NS1. 



RELIG-IDN, 



Deut. vi : 8. " A sign upon thine hand." The two 
tables of stone, the two hands. Five precepts on each; 
five members on each hand. The first great command- 
ment, the thumb of the right hand; the thumb of the 
left hand, the last precept, which is also great and 
comprehensive. The right hand is piety, the left 
morality. The right hand can grasp the tightest: both 
clenched together represent religion. 

The Leyite said to the sinner, bring your sacrifices; 
the prophet said, repent and obey. 

We must have regard for the senses in places of 
worship. The use of. incense in the Temple was 
important as well as significant. Smell is the most 
direct and powerful of the senses; indeed, it is the 
highest sense. No one can have high and pure spirit- 
ual impressions where there is a bad smell. Odor, in 
the Scriptures, signifies quality. 

That which has the sanction of the eternal nature 
must be ris;ht. 



28 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

All that God puts in law, man can put in prayer; for 
prayer is man's desire to be conformed to God's law. 
The Lord's prayer has seven petitions, and they have a 
correspondence with the precepts of the command- 
ments, 

-The tendency of civilization is to make the life of 
man seem valuable ; the law of God is to make the life 
of man higher. 

The fifty-first psalm is the expression of a soul broken 
with the deepest sense of sin. " Against Thee and 
Thee only have I sinned." It was as ruler that David 
ivas after God's own heart. 



The Levite is the man of the letter; the prophet 
looks after and is the man of the spirit. The New 
Testament is the culmination of prophecy. As Moses 
prayed, all the sons of God are prophets. 

Sometimes those who seem to have the best outward 
life, have the deepest sense of sin. 

The question was asked : " Would it be a greater sin 
against God, to take his name in vain, than it would to 
cut a man's head off? " and the answer was : " Would 
it be any worse for the fruit, to cut the root off, than to 
cut the branch ? " 

The veil of the Temple was rent in twain, so that we 



RELIGION. 29 

now have access to the throne, through Christ, each for 
himself. 

The hearts of men are fashioned alike. 

"He that believeth shall not make haste." Repose 
and peace in God are opposed to the hurrying, worry- 
ing spirit of the world. Christ is our example. 

• 

Every soul by itself, is a priest to God. 

Christ identified himself with the lowest and neediest 
of mankind. 

The first disciple that Christ himself brought to him- 
self, was won through the power of brotherly love. 

The greatest secret of life is the secret of the man's 
own soul, and the misery of this life is that many men 
never find themselves. And again, many who do find 
themselves do not find their appropriate spheres. 

Knowledge makes a counselor, wisdom a guide.. 
Ben. Franklin had not great knowledge, but he was. 
wise. The man must begin lowest who would go 
highest. He must be related to all. A minister's 
calling,, which is a continuation of Christ's labors, needs 
that broadest experience and the power of loving the 
highest. He who struggles most with himself can best 



30 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

lead others. Sympathy is the great power. All things 
were committed to the hands of Christ, not because he 
was the Son of God, but because he was the Son of 
Man. In order to be able to sympathize with others 
we must have trials ourselves. Sympathy is the great 
means of opening others' bosoms to us, and thus a man 
gains knowledge of others by going to them in sympa- 
thy. Our ruling love makes our destiny. To win 
souls, then, touch their ruling love. 

Beauty is of Gcd, and is in itself a spiritual thing. 

Christ has gone to " prepare a place for you." As 
if he had said : " I have been with you and know what 
you want, and I am going to fit up a room for you. 
You shall be at home." We shall be in places adapted 
to us, and there will be progress. We shall not be 
thrown into the company of those who care not for us. 
We may not be equal to Enoch, who has been there 
much longer, but we shall be with those who can help 
us. Heaven will be organized in societies. All things 
are to be gathered together in one. Each for ail and 
all for each. 

Fear, in the Old Testament, means reverence. 

High living makes people grow sensuous, so that they 
come to think more of what is in the dinner-pot than 
they do of what is in the heaven of their souls. 

Prophecy sometimes means praise to Ood. 



RELIGION. 31 

When God comes to visit, it is to benefit and not to 
get what he can. 

Those who come to God for aid must expect to find 
it only where they can depend no more upon them- 
selves. When burdens become so heavy that men can 
no longer bear them, divine aid comes. 

God's people are tried by waiting. How long they 
waited for the coming of Christ ! 

The first thing to be rid of in our services to God is 
the bondage of the flesh. Next, the sense of time. 
We are too impatient. Trials of patience release us 
from the bondage of time. Is it thus that God means 
to prepare us for eternity ? 

It is one thing to know God's hand and another 
thing to know his heart. 

Good is truth made applicable or practical. It is 
truth made vital by love. 

The putting away of the tabernacle for the temple 
represents putting off the body of flesh for the heav- 
enly. It was a favorite figure with the inspired writers. 

The blood of the sacrifices of the altar was a contin- 
ual reminder that the penalty of sin was death. 



32 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

It used to be the idea that when any one saw God 
or any divine appearance, he should die. When the 
patriarch came near to his death, which was the natural 
death of old age, he came into a state of spiritual per- 
ception or seership, as did Jacob when he blessed his 
sons. He called them together when he felt himself 
coming into that last earthly condition. 



The Old Testament never sees the face of God. His. 
servants of old, like Moses, saw under his feet. 



The only thing in the manifestations of God that 
suggests material, is light. And light is used to repre- 
sent spiritual things. "Dark through excess of light," 
says Milton. God represents himself by light; his 
wrath by lightning. 

God reveals and impresses himself upon the minds 
of the people without leaving anything that can be so 
described as to enable them to make any image of him. 

Light has a seven-fold nature ; and yet it seems as 
one element. The perfect white light is the medium of 
God's manifestations. "No man can see God and 
live." Man catches a glimpse of God only when he 
dies. 

God so planned the world that it might be full of 
types of himself. The sun can not be studied without 
the prism, which brings the light down to finite condi- 
tions. So God reveals himself to weak man, in his 
attributes, in such ways that we may comprehend him. 



RELIGION. 33 

The rainbow is an analysis of light ; and Christ is God 
as seen in Revelation. 

Moses saw, on Mt. Sinai, the patterns of heavenly 
things and the outward glory of God. But these types 
and forms did not satisfy the living affections of the 
spiritual man. 

No man can see God's full glory, the glory of his 
face, while in the physical conditions; we can only 
behold him when we come into the spiritual conditions. 
"Then we shall see him face to face, for we shall be 
like him." No one could see his face and live, and as 
Moses had a work yet to do, he could not have his 
prayer granted. Many people have died with joy, and 
the sight of God's glory would give such joy as to 
cause the heart to cease to beat. So God shielded 
Moses that he might see something of his outward 
appearance — his train or retinue, as we might say. 

Rev. xix. There are two times that heaven is full of 
music and praise : when the conqueror appears and 
when the victory is won. 

Moses saw God's services as in heaven, and what he 
saw there he represented in the Tabernacle. The 
Temple was made in the same form of the Tabernacle, 
only twice the dimensions. The holy of holies in the 
Tabernacle was 10 X 10 X 10, perfect in form. In 
the Temple it was 20 X 20 X 20. Does this represent 
the principle of growth of the soul? We are to 
"inherit all things," and thus there will be no limit to 
our growth. 



o4 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer relate 
to the heavens. Do they express the leading thoughts 
of each ? John saw three heavens. Did Moses see 
them ? Did Moses see the Cherubim in the first 
heaven? and did he represent them in the most holy 
place from that fact? Why three heavens? Do they 
correspond with the three-fold nature of man? the 
affections, the intellect, and the active life or the hand? 
Are the distinctive principles of each heaven according 
to the realms of truth in man ? from the heart, love ; 
from the intellect, thoughts; from the hands, useful- 
ness? Are the heavens realms of different principles? 
I ask these questions, but am not answering them, and 
do not know as I can. They are to think of. Are 
there different degrees of perfection in these heavens ? 

The face shows the active loves of the heart. Moses 
never saw God's face, but it was seen in Christ, the 
express image of the Father. 

The law came by Moses ; grace by Christ. Moses 
saw not the deepest because he saw not the face, the 
revelation of which was left for another dispensation. 
The deepest is found in Christ. By Moses we get the 
truth ; through Christ, love. 



What was the probable typical import of the things 
of the Tabernacle ? The following are hints and not 
teachings : Fat stands for the natural heat of man, and 
blood for the heat of passions. Are we to take it, that 
from this we are taught that we should consecrate even 
our animal powers? The fat was burned in the sacri- 
fices. Vegetable oil was used for the holy services. 



RELIGION. So 

" Mercy and truth are met together." (Ps. 85.) 
The tables of the covenant, the truth ; the mercy-seat 
with the cherubim, mercy. These were in the most 
holy place. So it is in the regeneration of man. It 
goes on in the inmost parts — in his heart. The priest 
then goes into the holy place, next outward. So it is 
with the influence of God's Spirit; it goes out and 
shines through the intellect. 

Here is the seven-branch light representing the seven 
attributes of God lighting up the whole intellect. Here 
is the altar of incense, the prayers of the saints, and 
the table of shew-bread, which represents the nourish- 
ment of God's truth. All the active faculties of life 
must be nourished by God's truth. 

In the outward place, the external court, we come to 
the senses and the active life of the hands. Here is 
the laver which represents external purity or outward 
holiness. Here one must wash away his impurities. 
But he can not wash away the past, it is only for the 
present. He must begin at the brazen altar and sacri- 
fice and atone for the past. 

Now we go back from the outer to the inner. First, 
is atonement for the past; then washing away of sins; 
next we come to the light of God's truth and to the 
nourishment of his table, and here we offer the prayers 
of our hearts. 

Different animals are used as representing the affec- 
tions of the heart. The lamb is innocence ; the ass, 
self-will of the natural man, which must be redeemed 
by innocence or its neck broken. 

Trees are also types of holy things, as the olive. 



36 KEY. AUSTIN CEAIG. 

How naturally the prophets make use of the things 
of the Tabernacle as figures and types ! 

The seven-branch candlestick was Israel, which was 
representative of the light of Jehovah to the world. 
The light came from God, from the most holy place, 
and shone out through Israel, in the most holy place, 
into the world. 

The priest was anointed with the oil olive, and wore 
on his shoulders the symbols of his kingship. The 
breastplate was prophecy, and the oil represented love. 
(Psalm 133.) 

Holy affection reaches down even to the lowest. 
Christ is the Anointed. The true light comes from the 
affections. 

Some get up light by rubbing the brain \ we need to- 
mb the heart as well as the brain. 

The priests were to take fire from the altar — holy 
fire — to burn incense. It represented the sanctified 
affections, and the incense was the prayers of the 
saints. 

We think that all these things have a meaning and 
are for a higher purpose than simply for uniformity \ 
but we are not able to say what they all mean. 

Some of the New Testament can not be understood 
without a knowledge of these Levitical emblems of 
furniture, dress, etc. 

Christ passed through heaven and all those realities: 
represented by the things of the tabernacle and temple. 
He really does for us what the high priest typically did 
for the children of Israel. The high-priest went into 
the holy of holies with fear and awe; we can come 
boldly to the throne of grace. 



RELIGION. 6 1 

The priest must be able to sympathize with men. and 
so he was taken from among his brethren. So Christ 
was touched with our infirmities that he might feel for 
us as well as to be in sympathy with God. ' ; No man 
taketh it upon himself, but is called of God." Christ 
was " after the order of Melchizedek." 

What was that order ? It was a natural order. It 
was not representative nor inherited. The real priest 
is one who really bears upon his bosom the real image 
of God and real love for man. 

Melchizedek had no priestly genealogy. His priest- 
hood was in himself. He was typical of the true 
priesthood. We can go no higher in the law than to 
the Abrahamic covenant. Melchizedel: was higher 
than Abraham. 

Conscience, under the old system, was simply eased 
from condemnation. The new system gives strength 
to the conscience and saves man from sinning. The 
true sacrifice is the giving of the whole heart to God. 

It is a low stage of repentance that seeks simply 
safety from brimstone and fire ; the true man yearns 
for holiness. 

Blood always represents life. The blood of the 
sacrifices represented the lives of the people. But 
God wants the life of the living man. 



The mediatorial work belonged to the priest, and 
Christ, the true priest, came to the hearts of men. He 
could sympathize with man as Gabriel could not. It 
was necessary for Christ to suffer for man, that he 
might be able to enter into sympathy with suffering 



33 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

humanity, and not to appease God's wrath ; " for God 
so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son," 
etc. 

These are the two great points of fitness in Christ for 
his great work : his natural sympathy and kn e to God 
and his voluntarily-acquired sympathy for fallen man. 
Being the highest, he suffered with the lowest, and that 
without sin. 

The epistle to the Hebrews aims to convince them 
that the old priesthood was temporary and had passed 
away, and that the new dispensation was superior to 
the old. The old dispensation was administered by 
angels; the new by Christ, who is better than the 
angels. 

The law was a temporary arrangement to keep the 
people from the idolatry of the nations about them, 
against the time in which a new covenant should be 
made. 

The holy of holies represents heaven, and the cheru- 
bim, God's attendants there. The prophet saw the 
cherubs as two olive-trees, pouring oil over into the 
golden lamp from seven pipes. Is this a hint that spir- 
itual influences from heaven, through the agency of 
angels and " spirits of just men made perfect," flow 
down to men ? 

There are four words, in Greek, translated " world." 
There is a world of [time as well as a world of place. 
11 In the end of the world" should be " In the conclu- 
sion of the ages." What ages had there been ? Epochs 
in God's great plan of the education of the world. 



RELIGIOX. 39 

There are different epochs of sacred history and divine 
government. The law was for the purpose of the con- 
servation of the faith of Abraham. There is the patri- 
archal age, the age of the law, the Levitical age, the 
age of prophecy; and Christ was the fullness of all 
these ages, or "the conclusion of the ages." The 
most perfect man of the old dispensation could not see 
the face of God, but only a shadow of the good things 
to come. 

The Jaw only saved from penalties ; the gospel saves 
from sin and makes perfect in holiness through the 
Holy Spirit giving eternal life. The law saved from 
idolatry ; the prophets all looked for a time when all 
should have the Spirit-. Prophecy was acting as well as 
speaking against idolatry. 

In the old dispensation but few were inspired; but in 
the new the Spirit was to be poured out upon all. 
Under the old, a few things were consecrated; under 
the new, all things necessary and good are to be sacred. 
Christ sanctified all things. His work in the carpenter- 
shop, I think, was just as much set apart as any. " It 
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats 
should take away sins." (Heb. 10 : 4.) 

The bull that we are to offer is the bull within us. 
Christ consecrated his body and all: "I come to do 
thy will." This is the true offering. It is by that will 
that we are sanctified. As Christ gave himself, so 
should we. He did it that we might. He was the 
way. 

Christianity is not a distinct religion, but the manhood 
of Judaism. 



40 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The gospel is for soothing ; the world for excitement. 

The breastplate was to the priest's dress what the 
holy of holies was to the tabernacle. It had the most 
holy signification. It was square, and the square is the 
symbol of truth. God would have us live on the 
square. He looks for square work. 

In the priest's dress, great honor was placed upon 
the forehead, and much responsibility upon the shoul- 
ders ; but the greatest importance and the most beauti- 
ful symbol is placed upon the breast. God thinks most 
of the heart. Be right there, above all. 

The objects upon the breastplate all had their mean- 
ing. Gold represented love, holiness, or divine good- 
ness. Silver stands for truth, denoting the principle 
of justice. 

God's love comes in one divine life, but, like the rays 
of the sun, may be analyzed into its several attributes. 
In the sun's light we have the three rays of heat, the 
chemical and the luminous rays. So in God's love we 
have righteousness, holiness, and power. There is a 
difference between righteousness and holiness. The 
ungodly and the sinners are in the unsaved class; the 
righteous and godly in the saved class. The righteous 
are hardly saved; the good are saved abundantly. 

Righteousness and justice go together, and godliness 
and love. The righteous man asks what is right; the 
good man lives near to God in love. 

What is the white stone with the name given, spoken 
of in Revelation ? 



RELIGION. 41 

Revelation was written for the Jews, because they 
alone could understand the forms of speech used. Are 
we then to have, spiritually, when we come to the true 
holy of holies, everything that the priest had typically ? 
The priest had something that no one else knew any- 
thing about. Was it the white stone that was the urim 
and thummim ? This is only a suggestion. 

Who can estimate the value of the truth of God as 
our servant ? How much greater is the privilege of 
having the urim and thummim inside the heart, as the 
spiritual man does, than to have to consult it on the 
priest's breast ! 

God's silence is the best answer for some of our 
impudent questions. Let us be thankful for God's 
silence. 

"Ye have an unction from the Holy One in all 
things." All knowledges that relate to the holiness of 
the Spirit come by the Spirit. Those who know what 
love is are those who have felt it. Instinctive thought 
comes from the heart, and the heart inspires the intel- 
lect. Christ, the true high-priest, wore the urim and 
thummim in his heart. Love is deeper than knowledge. 

If the infinite God had been in Christ we could not 
have understood him. We can understand only the 
finite. Christ was the image made finite. 



The Comforter is the " cheer-urger." Would there 

4 



42 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

were more sons of comfort. They are more needed 
than "sons of thunder." 



The twelve stones on the breastplate of the high- 
priest represented our different loves. Love manifests 
itself in lights and perfections. Have not we found 
the true urim and thummim in the Spirit of God within 
us ? What better source of guidance can a man go to 
than to it ? 

I think that the urim and thummim were the precious 
stones. They were more valuable than gold, and more 
perfect in form. They have straight edges ; and from 
perfect lines come the moral ideas, such as rectitude, 
uprightness, etc. They also had the beautiful, perfect 
light. It may be that God withdrew from them the 
most holy things as they fell into idolatry, for fear they 
would make idols of them. 

People would put the Bible under their pillows to 
keep witches away who would not put its principles in 
their hearts to keep Satan away. 



As the priest Aaron bore the judgment of the chil- 
dren of Israel upon his breast, so I think of the minister 
as bearing the people upon his heart. We are to 
sympathize with both God and the people. We should 
have that sympathy for people which seeks to bring 
them into harmony with God. When you take from 
the church the power to make sinners the sons of God, 
you take away its gieat power and it becomes like any 
other organization for some worldly interest. 



RELIGION. 43 

Stone seems to be representative of truth and firm- 
ness, and the figures of the Old Testament furnish the 
style of the New. All true worship in man depends 
upon his knowledge of God just as he gives it in his 
revelation. He must not cut and shape it to suit 
himself. God lays the foundation of all true worship 
by making known himself in nature. Next, he comes 
nearer by his revealed word. The foundation of the 
church is Peter's confession : " Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." 

Peter signifies stone; and stone, the truth. Each of 
the tribes was represented by a stone which denoted 
some principle of the truth of God. 

Of colors, that which relates to man is purple and 
scarlet ; but that which relates to God is blue, or true. 
Purple and scarlet are the two kinds of blood in us — 
the veinous and arterial — the one impure and the other 
pure. The different colors together show the relations 
of God and man. 

The pomegranates made of linen were between the 
bells to keep them from clashing violently. The robe 
signified the unity of the nation. Israel, and was not to 
be rent. 

Christ's spiritual robe, which is the true one, is his 
church, which should not be rent. Our unity with one 
another depends upon our unity with God. 

The bells proclaimed the unity of the robe to the ear. 
It may be that they represented the sounding forth of 
the gospel truth. Each bell must give its own sound. 



44 REV. AUSTIJS' CRAIG. 

Let each minister have his own gift, and not admire 
and covet that of his brother. Let the bell be golden, 
and give its own sound, not imitating others." Our 
High-priest liveth ever, therefore the bells have to use 
the sound of immortality. In the first high-priest we 
see the first representative of the Messiah. He also 
represented the other functions of prophet and king 
which afterwards appeared in the true Messiah. The 
first anointed was the priest. 

After the tabernacle and all its furniture was made 
by man, after the pattern of heavenly things, there still 
remained the formal acceptance of them. 

There are things here that we can not understand. 
The best idea we get of them is in the antetypes of 
them. It is a defect in our Christianity that we do not 
make mere use of the Old Testament. 



The one great question to be solved theoretically is 
the connection between matter and spirit. The out- 
ward world is the image of God's thoughts; the spir- 
itual world is the image of his affections. The material 
world is not an image of the spiritual, yet it may repre- 
sent it. Here we get the great laws of analogy. 

The structure of man is the highest. All the lower 
is typical of the higher. The zoophyte is a plant-animal. 
You may go up step by step, from the leaf to man, and 
there is the same law in each individual. Man, in his 
growth in the fetal state, passes through various forms 
of animal creation and grades all the way up. The law 
is from the lower to the higher, and there is a single 



RELIGI0X. 45 

organizing idea of the Creator in all. When you reach 
man you stop. It is the end of the first degree of life. 
From that you come to the spiritual. 

Analogy is a great study of the laws of nature. Sol- 
omon was a great student of analogy. The natural 
and the spiritual meet in the divine Mind, from which 
they branch out into everything. 

There is a great deal of teaching by analogy in the 
Bible; the poet makes use of analogy; and astronomy 
and chemistry furnish many forcible comparisons for 
the illustration of spiritual things. The Book of Reve- 
lation was not written on the principle of logic, but on 
the principle of analogy, or the use of the natural to 
teach the spiritual. 

The law of spiritual life has no exceptions. Hence 
why so particular about those outward types. All 
things offered to God must be perfect. Spiritual law is 
absolute. 

The people came to compromise in these matters. As 
Elder John Phillips once said: "Mutton brought such 
a good price at Jerusalem that they sold all the best and 
took such as they could not sell to offer to God " 

There are laws of causation and laws of association. 
Causation is absolute, and association is arbitrary. The 
law of association deals with outward things ; the law 
of causation is of the inner spiritual relations, which 
makes use of the outward. God designed that the 
outward Levitical things should be so exact that they 
should teach perfect spiritual lessons. The things of 
the tabernacle were great object-lessons. 



4() REV. AUSTIN CRAIG, 

The unleavened bread signified simplicity. It was 
incorrupt. Unleavened bread, the simplicity of truth; 
the oil, the unction or grace of God. Both must go 
together — mercy and truth. 



The true light of the church and of the world is that 
of the oil of the affections. Intellect shines with light; 
but the light of the heart burns. Intellect will make 
the minister shine, but love will make him burn. 

Of the sacrifices, one of the rams was to be burned. 
Thus we should consume all that is sinful within us. 
The other was to be eaten by the priests, who were to 
live on holy things. 

In the service of the consecration of the priests, the 
whole action was typical of spiritual life and holiness. 
Seven things were put upon the priests, representing 
the perfections of God. Holiness to Jehovah was the 
last put on. 

In the house of God all things were to be beautiful 
and pleasant to the senses, in harmony with the law of 
association. The incense was necessary to take away 
the animal odors. 

In the tabernacle you find the things of all the king- 
doms, mineral, vegetable, and animal ; so that all things 
are lor spiritual uses. 

Aaron was the Christ (the anointed) of God, and he 
was prophet, priest, and king. But in the course of 



RELIGION. 47 

time there was to be and was a separation of these three 
functions. The kingdom of God takes in all the inter- 
ests of the universe, and is the embodiment of all 
principles, political, military, etc. So the priesthood at 
first embodied all professions ; but in the course of time 
they branched out into all the different offices. The 
priestly office was the lower ; the prophetical was the 
highest. The kings had the power to kill the prophets, 
but yet they were not so high a power. The prophet- 
ical power rules and organizes the world. The spirit 
of truth is the great molding power. It was and is the 
topmost wave of influence. It is the great lesson of 
the Bible that truth rules all, in the nature of things. 
Moses did not pray for all to be kings, but for all to be 
prophets; and the later prophets spoke of the time 
when the Spirit of God should be poured out on all the 
sons of men. The true anointing, as that of the 
Christian, is the giving of the Spirit of God. 

If we have the spirit of prophecy, why can not we 
foretell things? We mistake what prophecy is. The 
prophet was he who spoke for God, whether of the past 
or the future. The greatest prophets were not those 
who wrote and spoke most, but those who lived most 
to God. The greatest prophets wrote nothing — Elijah 
and John the Baptist. And Christ himself said of the 
latter, " No greater was born of woman.'' 

The man of action is greater than the man of speech. 
The great man is the organizer of society. 

John was the last of the old dispensation. Christ 
was an outgrowth of Judaism, and the kingdom of 
heaven is the gospel dispensation. John was the great- 
est of the old, and less than the least of the new. 



48 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Elijah was the fiery prophet, and the age required his 
severity. Let us rejoice that we live in this age of the 
gentle spirit of love ; for really one spark of self-sacri- 
ficing love is better than the fiery zeal of the olden 
time. 

There were two kinds of offerings — the heave-offer- 
ing, up toward God, and the wave-offering, from side 
to side, in broad sympathy with fellow-men. These 
two kinds of offerings make us think of the two com- 
mands of Christ — love to God and love to man. The 
wave-offering comes first. " If a man love not his 
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen ? " 

It is not scriptural for two to be praying; at the same 
time. It is better to sit, as the Friends do. 



Take no notice of scandal, unless it be wicked. 

The sacredness of the social and family ties is 
respected by God; and what a thought it is that we find 
all these practical questions of the day made plain to 
us, either by precept or example in the Bible. 

Numbers 14 : 34. Here is the first representative 
use of time. Each day stands for a year. This is 
afterwards much used in prophecy as typical time. 

The ark of God, and that most holy, was to be 



KELIGIOX.. 49 

covered with blue. It was a symbol to remind them of 
the law of God which was within the ark. I think of 
Jesus as having the blue fringe on his robe. 



Think of the wrath of Moses ! Is it right for a man 
to be angry ? No man who is incapable of anger is 
perfect. As a man loves that which is right and good, 
so will he hate that which is wrong or imperfect. Christ 
was approved and exalted because he loved righteous- 
ness and hated iniquity. Evil will not be able to endure 
the presence of goodness Where there is no evil, all 
our spirit expresses itself in love. Christ looked upon 
the Pharisees with anger, being grieved at the hardness 
of their hearts. The origin of his anger was grief. 
The perfect man may be angry, but anger can not exist 
in a perfect state. 

The Book of Numbers is full of sinning and death, 
and the priesthood coming in to stand between God's 
wrath and the people. 

The Levites were to offer of their tithes; and so the 
minister must make sacrifices. The Levites gave for 
Aaron — the priest to the high-priest. 

The great image in the minds of the prophets is that 
of Jehovah leading his people through the great and 
terrible wilderness. 

The finite mind can not receive all of God's plan at 



50 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

once, and therefore a man is to be judged for the. 
principle he has for his rule of faith and practice. The 
faith of four thousand years ago was a seed-principle 
planted in view of the future. It was by this seed- 
principle that Rahab, the harlot, was saved. She had 
turned her heart to that faith. She believed in her 
heart that the leader of the Israelites was the God of 
all, and she wanted to cast in her lot on his side. This 
was her faith. We must judge every one by the light 
of his age. She was not a Christian, nor could we 
expect that. 

Christendom has no temptation to idolatry, because 
God's victory over it has been so complete. Idolatry 
was the great weakness of that age, and the great lesson 
of that age was that there was one true God. 



What is faith ? There are two lives that we may live 
: — that of the senses, or animal, and that of the spiritual 
man. The animal life we live by the guidance of the 
senses. In the spiritual life we are led by faith. " Now 
faith is the support of things hoped for," etc. The 
world lives by the senses ; the Christian by faith Faith 
is the support of what we hope for. It is faith that is 
the conviction of the unseen and invisible, and faith 
has been growing more and more complete all the way 
along. There is a germ of faith even of the heathen. 

There is a difference between belief and faith, as 
between assent and consent. The lips assent, but the 
heart consents. Rome only asks you to assent. If 
you will say her words, it is all she expects. 

Is a man responsible for his belief? He is. A pure 



RELIGION. 5| 

intellectual truth does not touch the heart ; but all 
moral truth reaches the heart. 

Was it the same Rahab spoken of in both the Old 
and New Testaments? If so, there was a believer 
among the heathen even before God's people were set- 
tled in the promised land. As soon as they came into 
the land the heathen were received into fellowship. 
The typical idea is that even in the earliest times, 
although the promise was to the seed of Abraham, yet 
•the doors were open for all. 

The sheep of all folds are to become of one flock. 

The justice of the punishment of Achan and his 
family ? God gave life, and he can take what he gave, 
as his right. The nation was barbarous at best. Nor 
is death the worst thing. It was a lesson to the whole 
people. It was the punishment of sin under the fiery 
law. Sin is the most terrible thing in the world. It is 
better that a nation should all be slain than that all the 
•world should be corrupted by sin. God can not make 
any compromise with evil. 

The greater the love for good the greater the hatred 
of evil. 

The progress of God's revelation has been from that 
of mere power to that of love. The Bible reveals 
attribute after attribute as man is prepared for it. One 
idea at a time was God's plan for elevating man. Each 
age had its idea, and a man who was true to that idea 
was acceptable to God. 



52 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Joshua 8 : 31. The whole stones for the altar signify 
the whole affections of the heart, uncorrupted by wrong 
human influences. God seeks first of all to have us 
consecrate our human affections. Holiness comes from 
the idea of wholeness. 

Why did Christ say, "I will come in and sup with 
him," instead of " dine with him?" Because dinner 
was the meal of state ; and at night the cares of the 
day would be over, and a man could give himself up 
to enjoyment and company. 

He who is faithful to the truth will be a king of men. 

As the warmth of the summer's sun has greater 
power than the lightning to bring life and activity into 
the world, s*j is the spirit of Christ a higher power than 
that of John the Baptist. 

God makes the first birthright by the power of the 
Holy Spirit. The church gets its best members from 
Christian families. God sanctifies the mystery of gen- 
eration. 

The name "John" signifies "Jehovah's grace," or 
"Jehovah given." It contained a promise. He was* 
sanctified before his birth, and, therefore, before he had 
a chance to repent. Why should if not be so with all?' 

Tendencies are as much a part of a man's character 
as his actions. There is a special providence in the 
case of every man. Every man has a character when 



RELIGION. 53 

lie is born ; but it lies deeper than the consciousness or 
thought of man, where only God sees it. 



The doctrine of the miraculous conception is for 
Christians, and not for the bringing of men to Christ. 

Those who have a deep sense of sin, have a deep 
moral nature ; and the deep work of the gospel can not 
be done without that deep sense of sin. It is the great 
work of preaching to produce conviction of sin. 

Oh, that our young women would think of Mary ! 
IVhat great honor was done to her ! 

There was a creative power came on Mary's body. 
Divine energy produced the germ of life which in the 
natural way is produced in man. Mary was familiar 
with the Scriptures, and may have known something of 
the physiological facts of conception and birth. The 
Jews ought not to have doubted anything of this, for 
they had been having just such miraculous things 
through all their history. 

From a humble peasant girl of secluded Nazareth, 
Mary becomes the mother of the world's Savior ! How 
her life was widened and exalted ! Notice her song of 
praise. How much scripture she quotes ! There is a 
reference for every line ! We must infer that Mary 
taught Jesus the Scriptures, according to the old com- 
mandment of Moses for the teaching of children. How 
full of the knowledge of the Scriptures Jesus was ! 



54 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Who is it that saves us? It is the Messiah, and not 
the child Jesus as such. 

If we could know more of the early life of Jesus we 
should probably be disappointed. We have idealized 
him. The Spirit was made flesh. Christ had to eat 
bread and butter, and to be taken care of just as other 
helpless children. We have no account of those things 
in the New Testament; and it is well that we have not, 
for our idealization would be shocked. It is by the 
grace of God that those things are left out. There is 
nothing that would simply gratify our curiosity, but 
only those things were written which were necessary 
for our spiritual good. 

John the Baptist seems to have had the character of 
the Essen es, spoken of by Josephus. We may get 
some idea of what his education was by considering 
that he was the son of Zacharias, a priest. He appears 
as a copy of Elijah. It may be because they came 
from the same region. He was brought up in the 
desert, on the north-west of the Dead Sea. I do not 
think of him as taking up the ministry by imitation, for 
he had too much personality for that. Men of great 
individuality and strong moral natures naturally come 
out against the perversions of the age. 

His dress was probably such as was common to that 
region from whence he came, and we have no account 
of his going up to Jerusalem in that habit. 

Strong men grow up in seclusion ; yet, reared in the 
desert, they will lack some elements of character. 
They will be odd, and that is sometimes a good thing. 
Such men are intense, and have great individuality. 



RELIGION. 55 

God begins his work of reformation in the worst 
places first. "Make his paths straight, " They were 
not to go around the hills. It is typical of the work 
before us. 

There had been intercourse between heaven and 
earth all the way along; but now, in this new dispen- 
sation, the angels of the highest heavens, those from 
the presence of God, had a work to do here, hand in 
hand with Christ the Son of God. The heavens were 
brought near. 

The angels of heaven used to come with swords of 
fire ; now they come with love and praises. 

All through society there needs to be preparation for 
the way of the Lord. The hills of pride have to be 
humbled and the valleys of humility to be filled up. 

Our privileges will not save us, unless they bear fruit 
of us. Privileges are God's grace. This is what John 
the Baptist preached. It is not God's grace to us, but 
in us, that saves us. 

It is a great thing for the preacher to understand the 
providential hinge on which the kingdom of God is 
turning, Moses, of necessity, compromised ; but John 
the Baptist came making no compromise with evil. 
He laid the ax to the root. 

He knew men, and adapted himself to them; and 
when they came to him he knew what they needed. 

The elements of theology are in the inspired words. 
The words and their general use must be understood. 



6f) REV. AUSTIN CRAKi. 

We must only ask what is the truth. It is a great work 
to lay aside our preconceived ideas which have become 
a part of ourselves. 

John the Baptist had two sides to him : the fire of the 
old prophet and the love of the new dispensation. He 
was a link between the old and the new. 



Only one human soul was created; all others are 
begotten. It is a mystery. 

The particular character is in the tree before it bears 
any fruit. We know it by its fruit. We can trace it 
back to one created tree in the garden. If the tree is 
in some way injured, its seed-bearing power is injured, 
and it becomes depraved. So it is with man. 



' ' Dogma " is the decreed doctrine. We may have 
doctrine without dogma. 



The conditions of shepherd life were those of simple 
and unperverted nature. It is easy for men of pure 
natural affections to receive Christ. There is a good 
influence of animals upon men. Men of strong natural 
affections love animals, and animals naturally take to 
such men. 

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses — all those great 
souls who were given the true religion in trust — were 
shepherds. City life spoils the natural affections of 
men. 



RELIGION. 57 

One was not considered of the children of Israel 
till circumcised. It was to the Hebrews what infant 
baptism is in some of the Christian churches. It was 
not considered saving by them. 

Man's spirit was made for God's Spirit. In being 
made in the image of God he was made for the inspira- 
tion of God. The greatest gift to the world is the 
inspired soul. The gift of the Holy Spirit is that men 
may live in holy relations. 

Egypt represents a spiritual condition, and so do all 
other nations. Christ might have been made safe else- 
where, but it seems to have been foreordained that he * 
should follow the type in coming out of Egypt. 

It seems like a great type. Egypt was the cradle of 
civilization and the land of science and art. 

What bondage does Egypt represent? That of 
nature, as known through science as applied to material 
interests. It is the bondage of the natural and animal. 

The science of to-day has brought many back to an 
Egyptian state of mind. It was the bondage of a 
system of natural religion. This made it necessary 
that Jesus should go down and come up thence. 

From the hills about Nazareth Christ could see all the 
great historical places of the land. There we may 
think of him as reading the Psalms, and meditating 
and receiving those great and good impressions and 
influences which were to fit him for his great work. It 
is a beautiful country about there. 



58 EEV. AUSTIN CKAIG. 

He was not called a Nazarene from the name of the 
place, simply, but from the fact that a Nazarite was one 
who was separated for the service of God. Nazareth 
was a place separated from the world and set apart. 



Many lives of Christ are being written ; and it is one 
of the signs of the times that there is a great and grow- 
ing interest in him. 

Christ declared his baptism as il prepon," "seemly." 
It was fitness in every sense, and decorum. The idea 
is not that it was merely obligatory, but it was becoming 
even for the Son of the Highest. 



Christ was announced to the world by Heaven, as 
one is announced by name and title, at the door, when 
he goes to a great reception. 

Temptation is an appeal to the innermost man, to 
draw it away from fidelity to God. It is to try us, and 
teach us that which is deepest and best in us. 

There are three stages in the process of temptation 
which belong to the inward act : suggestion, delight, 
and choice. The outward act is the deed itself. 

First, the thought which comes into the mind. Next, 
does he delight in it ? Do his affections approve it ? 
Then comes choice ; and if the will is formed to do it, 
it is done in spirit already. 



RELIGION. 59 

There is no sin until we come to delight in the evil 
suggestion. This is where sin begins. We may have 
the thought, and yet be passive, as Christ was. But 
when we take it into our affections we become active in 
the matter. This Christ did not do. 



Hereditary evil works in our affections and will. 
The miraculous birth of Christ saved him from hered- 
itary evil. The temptation of Christ was external. In 
that he was as we are. But he was pure in his nature, 
and had no lust. In that is the characteristic difference 
between his and our temptations. We have unholy 
desires ; Christ had not. 

There are three classes of temptations : of body, of 
soul, and of spirit. Christ was tried with one of each 
in the highest, so that he knew all. 

The same spirit that came upon him at the river-side, 
at his baptism, led him into the wilderness. It was 
just as much a duty for him to go into the wilderness in 
the midst of temptation as it was to go* to be baptized. 
Great temptation comes near to great privilege. 

It is not necessary to salvation, if we could know 
that there is or is not a personal devil. Yet the results 
would be the same. Let us leave all theories except 
the purity of Christ and the principle upon which he 
vanquished his enemy. Look to the practical results, 
and ask how Christ met temptations. He withdrew 
from the evil influence. He was humble ; and humility 
is a great safeguard. " He that is down need fear no 
fall/' 



00 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Christ had no will distinct from that of his Father. 
ct Thy will be done." 

The devil worships himself, and wants all to worship 
him. This is the cloven foot sticking out. 



Christ did tip over the tables of the money-changers, 
and that is the only table-tipping we read of in connec- 
tion with the Lord's doings. His aspect here is very 
different from that at Cana, at the wedding. There he 
was all grace and joy ; here he appears in all the sever- 
ity of the prophet of God. Judgment begins at the 
house of God. He went as the minister should go, for 
a two-fold purpose : to bring joy and grace and glad- 
ness in all that is pure ; but with severity calm and firm 
against everything that is wrong in the sight of God. 
It must not be done with impatience of word or man- 
ner. That would be wrong. 

At the wedding we saw but one side of his character. 
If this were all, many would throw up their hats and 
say, "Let's have Jesus.*' But these seem to be pur- 
posely set here, side by side with each other. He had 
a zeal for righteousness in every place, not only on the 
joyful occasion but in the house of God. We may 
think that he did manifest indignation. Hatred is the 
counterpart of love, and goes hand in hand with it. 
He who most truly loves will most truly hate. Dr. 
Arnold said that he did not feel that a boy was safe 
until he could perceive that he hated whatever w r as 
unmanly. 



RELIGION. 61 

Christ was so zealous as a reformer that it was the 
cause of his death. It was his zeal for God that 
brought him to the cross. Zeal for God was the con- 
suming principle of his life. And so it was with the 
saints and martyrs. So it was with Luther. Leo X. 
was zealous for the cause of God materially, Luther for 
it spiritually; and they were against each other. Leo 
sought to raise money by granting indulgences ; Luther 
spoke in thunder tones against it. 

The point in the new birth is that it is of a different 
quality, and not the mere fact of being born. A man 
is first born into the kingdom of nature, but must be 
again born into the kingdom of heaven. This idea of 
a new birth is not confined to the Christian religion. 
It was the idea of the Jews. They received gentiles 
into the church after washing away their filth with 
water. Twice born is common in other religions. 
1 ' That which is born of the flesh is flesh," was true 
of the Jews as of others. 

The Jews could understand why gentiles should be 
born of water. The doctrine of a spiritual birth ought 
to have been well understood by any one who under- 
stood the prophets. Born of water was baptism. The 
first birth only gives privilege and capacity of the spir- 
itual birth. 

The gentiles had to put away heathenism and receive 
the birth of water before they could come to Christ. 
The Jews had the capacity to be born of the Spirit, as 
to be born in a Christian family is a great advantage to 
any one now. Jesus was using technical terms which 
were familiar to his hearers. 



62 rev. austix craig. 

The spirit was the free part of Judaism. You could 
tell who was going to be high-priest but could not tell 
who would be prophet. The Jews were so blinded 
with the splendor of Solomon and earthly things that 
they lost sight of these great spiritual things. 

Faith does not ask how. 

Prophecy is not to make plain that which already is, 
but to give new light to men. The dispensation of 
Moses left heaven closed, as represented by the veil 
before the most holy place. The new dispensation 
opens heaven ; the veil is rent and the Spirit makes 
plain the way. The first were only representations of 
heavenly things ; now we have the heavenly things 
themselves — heavenly thoughts and affections. 

' 'You have had no teacher who went up into heaven 
and came back to you. Moses only went to the top of 
Sinai, two miles, the highest peak the Jews knew of; 
Elijah never came back." He would say, "This is all 
new to you; you can not understand it." 

No one had been in heaven at this time. Some 
w r ould say that no man has been there yet. Christ not 
only came from the heavens, but it is the home of his 
proper being. Thus he speaks of things familiar to 
him, as a son could speak of things in his father's house. 



The brazen serpent is a type which most completely 
sets forth the salvation of the people. All things in 
Judaism were types, but this is the most complete. It 






RELIGIOX. 63 

sets forth the idea of the poisonous principle of sin in 
man. The venom of the serpent is the poison of sin. 
Brass was taken in connection with sin, as in the brazen 
altar. It was lifted up. That made it conspicuous. 
It was the cure for all that were bitten. So now God 
was about to lift up his great cure for sin, with which 
all men are bitten. 

If a man's heart is evil it will naturally color his 
thoughts. We naturally try to think according to our 
feelings. 

Evil keeps out of sight for fear of demonstration. 
Truth and purity seek the light and desire to be made 
manifest to the glory of God. 

Christ did not come even to judge the world. It 
was already judged — self-judged. He came to take 
away condemnation and to put the Spirit in the hearts 
of men. He reproved them by his spirit, and he 
makes his people judge the world. He puts that by 
their side and before their eyes that makes them con- 
demn themselves. So every true Christian condemns 
the world Condemnation is not an outward thing, 
formal and arbitrary, but inward and spiritual, accord- 
ing to the law of conscience. The heathen have the 
sense of sin, else they would have no sacrifices and 
altars. They have just a glimpse of light — an obscure 
thought of right and wrong. Moses speeified rules of 
action ; Christ makes general principles of love, which 
shall control the heart. 



()4 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

" Christ died for us." "He suffered for all man- 
kind." We must not think merely of the outward 
legal form. The influence of sin upon the heart is far 
worse than physical fire and bodily pain. 

The spiritual only truly keep God's law, though all 
may have an advantage from it. The law did not 
confer the spirit. It put man under constraint. 

Temporal blessings are only types of spiritual. The 
Jews thought of blessings, as corn and wine, their 
beautiful land, etc , but the prophets kept before them 
the great idea that true blessings are from righteousness/ 

No man has anything except it is the gift of God. 
We need not be troubled about results if we are doing 
our best with our gift. If another church gets our 
people away, and Christ gains them, we ought to rejoice 
in it. John's disciples were no part of Christ's church. 
John's joy was that he had done the service of the 
Bridegroom's friend, and that the people were going to 
Christ. John's spirit is just what we all need. We 
shall, like him, be tried in these things. Remember, 
it is the Lord's work we are doing. 

He who has his being in the heavens is over all. He 
who is of the earth must have his earthly work. Com- 
ing out of heaven, he could tell of things which he had 
seen and heard. How he might have told us all about 
heaven and heavenly things ! But he only tells us what 
will arouse us. to activity. If we knew all about it we 
might live in a day dream. "No man receiveth his 
testimony." They were not prepared to understand it. 



REL.IGIOX. 65 

Christ not only lays the truth before men, but he 
entreats, and woos and wins with gentle love. He who 
will not be persuaded to love Christ can not see life. 
He brings it upon himself. The wrath of God remains 
upon him. Teach men that they are left in their own 
choice. God can not take away their will without 
destroying his purpose. God's wrath is already upon 
sinners, and they can remain under it if they will. 
Christ is trying to win them from it. 

Christ teaches heart-worship as against place worship 
and form-worship. Worship must be a reality. God 
taught his people by outward things because they were 
children in thought and feelings of love. His prophets 
sought to draw them away from mere forms. (John 4: 
23.) This tells us who the true worshipers are, and 
who is the one to worship. Not " Elohim," nor "Je- 
hovah," but "the Father." Each name has its associ- 
ations of thought and feelings. The Father is near 
and dear. No fear, but love and confidence. The 
child of God comes to the Father's bosom without fear. 
As God is love, so is the love in man that which is 
most valuable and most prized. There is no holy place 
in Christianity ; it is a religion of the Spirit. 

Probability is the foundation of faith. All spiritual 
things hang upon faith and not upon knowledge and 
the power of the senses. We can not wait for certainty 
in these matters. From doubt we come to probability, 
and that is the beginning of faith, in which, if we go 
on in the discharge of duty, we shall grow in it. 



06 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Christ brings to light the idea of the equality of souls. 
There is no difference, not only between Jews and 
Samaritans, but between the sexes. 



The use of signs grows less all through the Bible. 
The later prophets appeal more and more to judgment 
and conscience. Miracles only, or mainly, manifest 
power. They are not a good means for manifesting 
wisdom and love. Christ worked no miracles of judg- 
ment. We do not need such powers • they would not 
be good for us. We have a higher, better power — that 
of wisdom and love. Miracles are useful for gaining 
the attention of people. When that is gained, there 
should be an appeal to conscience and heart. The 
highest faith is that which works by love. A miracle 
does not prove a moral truth. 

It is sad that, when the gospel is plainly preached, 
people are not convinced and convicted. " Having 
eyes they see not, and having ears they hear not." 



Christ would not receive the testimon v of the infernal 
spirits. They testified in terror. The divine Spirit has 
power over the unclean. Here was a wonderful thing ! 
We think the New Testament teaches that there is a 
world of evil spirits in antithesis to a world of good 
spirits. If by purity we can come into sympathy and 
near relations with good spirits, why not by the opposite 
course come into sympathy with bad ones. This is 
hardly a matter of faith. I hold it provisionally. 



RELIGION. 67 

Christ is life. He is the life which we seek — not 
the animal life, but divine life, which is eternal in its 
quality as well as its duration. It partakes of what 
Jesus is. All that is spiritual in man is eternal, because 
it came from the eternal One. 



POLITICS, 



Politics as a science is next in importance to religion^ 
The aim of politics is to establish the kingdom of 
heaven upon earth. The word politics is of Greek 
origin, meaning, "the city." 

The Bible is a political book in the true sense of that 
term. Take the principle out of any great interest and 
it becomes mere empiricism. The true principles of 
statesmanship are to be found in the Bible. The Book 
of Daniel is the statesman's book. This prophet was a 
true statesman, for he stood by the higher law. The 
man who stood against Daniel went to grass. Some of 
our politicians ought to be turned out to grass. Politics 
must be based on right theories of society and of human 
progress. Darwin's development theory should be 
reyersed. Sin makes man more like the animals. The 
Bible theory is that society is the creature of God. 
Any one who denies the divine origin of society is 
practically an atheist. Let the ministers preach true 
politics. 

Our legislators are too much taken up with the care 
of property, and not enough with the care of the 
virtues of society, which can not be much longer 
overlooked. 



POLITICS. 69 



Leviticus is a book of domestic economy. It con- 
tains wisdom above that of the present age respecting 
the duties and vocations of life. 



The Bible is political, and contains those principles 
to which we are going back after ages of false and 
injurious systems. 

The tribes were all preserved in the nationality. 
Thus the Bible recognizes states' rights, but not state 
sovereignty. Nationality is a natural growth from the 
family, the tribe, and the social circle to the unity of 
the tribes in a nation. The Bible is the statesman's 
best guide. 

The record of families, or genealogy, ought to be a 
distinct department of government. 

The heathen nations were cosmocratic in govern- 
ment ; the chosen people were theocratic. The spirit- 
ual organization of the nation was completed at Sinai; 
but there must now be a secular organization. The 
next thing is the invasion, that they may go up and 
possess the promised land. 

In Numbers we have the first census. In the early 
time of Christ we have another instance. There are 
two great objects in taking the census : to know the 
military force and to form a basis for taxation. The 
Book of Numbers gives an account of the preparation 
for war. 

Joshua is the military book, and these two books 



70 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

contain the military history of the jews. Judges is the 
book of military conditions. 



Law is the great organizing force of society. 

War has deteriorated from means of God's judg- 
ment to mere national uses and selfishness. War is 
only justifiable at the call of God, who uses it as a 
human instrumentality. 

Nothing but righteousness will bind men together in 
permanent relations. 

In Israel church and state went together. 

Man is king when he rules himself through Christ in 
all his inferior powers. 

We judge the character and position of nations by 
the general principles of the hereditary law of iniquity. 
Spain, for instance, has national traits which ha\e flown 
down through several generations. We should study 
history in the light of these principles. We find in 
France the example of a revolutionary nation. Science 
just begins to treat this subject, but the Bible teaches it 
plainly. 

The last commandment is for the protection of the 
family. Polygamy is not supported by the example of 
the patriarchs. 



POLITICS. 71 

"Throne of David. " David was the typical king, 
representing the spiritual kingship. He reigned in the 
hearts of the people and reached up to the idea of 
sonship to God. He gained the love of God, and the 
man who lives near to God can reign king in the hearts 
of men. 

Christ was not Messiah until he was anointed. His 
Messiahship was his official life; the thirty years were 
his private life. 

God is king. His government is a despotism, which 
is the best form of government if the ruler is wise and 
good. But we must not think of despotism in any bad 
sense. Government belongs to the Lord. Democracy 
is a heresy of Babylon. The kingdom of God alone is 
right — truth is the ruler and organizer. All human 
governments must go under. Democracy may be the 
last to go, but it will go in time. 

A review of the history of Jehovah's kingdom will 
show us that his real kingdom is the rule of righteous- 
ness. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of inspired 
souls. 

Daniel is the prophet of politics. 



The outward kingdom the Jews were thinking of 
would not be restored. The spiritual kingdom could 
not be restored to them, for they had never had it, and 
did not want it. The outward was but a type of the 

spiritual ; the real is eternal. 



72 REV. AUSTIN CEAIG. 

Christ is the king of the spiritual kingdom. On the 
earth he was a king in disguise, but when he went back 
to glory he took the throne. And he makes us " kings 
and priests." He appoints to office, and can give the 
inspired power to fulfill the duty. 

The idea of a leader implies the capacity to lead. 
The leader must have superior wisdom and power. Is 
Christ king, then, practically ? He is the king of men, 
God's king. He takes ordinary men and gives them 
great power to work and to do in the world. In this 
kingdom God's Spirit is the energy and his Son the 
sovereign. (Matthew 20: 25-28.) 

The theory of the divine right of kings is very differ- 
ent now from what it used to be. The influence of 
Christianity upon this idea has wrought a wonderful 
change. 

The kings used to be held as having divine nature, 
being born of a goddess or begotten by a god. In 
such kingdoms the exaltation of the king depresses the 
people. Not so in Christ's kingdom. The exaltation 
of the King exalts all the people. 

True greatness is not in the outward position, but 
spiritual gift and capacity of usefulness. Spiritual 
power is power to do good. 

The atmosphere is a common possession, and if you 
purify any portion of it, it is diffused, and all good is 
common good. So in the spiritual life, every one who 
increases the love of God in the earth does something 
of good for me, and I am sure of still more help to go 
up higher. Ruling with Christ is serving in love. 



POLITICS. 73 

A man may wish to be great, and not to be first. 
Those who are great are greatest in service What a 
kingdom it is in which we rule by serving ! Envy 
becomes impossible in the kingdom of heaven. In the 
place of it is a love which rejoices in all success in 
•good. The worldly man wants everything for himself; 
the Christian wants everybody to have everything that 
is good. 

The Christians founded Christian cities; the pagans 
founded pagan cities. The modern idea of society is 
Christian, yet Christian in form rather than in spirit. 
The last great work of Christ is to bring all nations 
together in one common bond. When that time comes 
the precepts of the tables of stone will be written in the 
hearts of men and not on stone. The command not to 
kill is the care of human life; the spirit of it is to not 
only not destroy but to furnish means of sustenance 
and comfort. The ruler will then seek to make happy 
the outward condition of his people. 



The body of the Mosaic law will well repay our 
study. It is the foundation of English law. Our 
forefathers were somewhat conditioned as the children 
of Israel. 

The Book of Leviticus contains the appointments of 
the officers of the great king. Every one of the Jews 
was eligible to the office, just as the people of the 
United States are. The Levites were purely repre- 
sentative of the people. But Moses gave them the 
privilege of having a king. : . . 



74 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Justice was necessary all the time, and Moses was 
the great justice of the peace. He was judge. Law 
grows up step by step as cases are brought up and 
decisions given. Then came the need of a digest, and 
thus "the judgments" came to be given. 

In the Book of Exodus we learn of the raising up 
of the leader of the people, of the divine interposition 
of the deliverance, of the great struggle of Jehovah 
against Egyptian idolatry, of the passage of the Red 
Sea, etc. Coming now to the borders of the promised 
land the organization of the nation begins. Their 
marches constitute the first step in their organization. 
This brings them back to their tribe conditions. Then 
comes the military organization which consolidates 
them. In all these things they were a type of all 
national organization. Indeed, they w T ere a type in all 
things. The development of all nations is after this 
same order, from the family to the tribe, and from the 
tribe to the nation. The tribe principle is weak. Our 
own nation came near failing because the states were so 
long in learning the principle of consolidation as a 
nation. We see another illustration of this in the 
feudal system of the middle ages. The king was the 
first realization of the consolidation and unity of the 
nation, and this is the reason why the people of Europe 
so cling to the monarchy. 

When the Amalekites fell upon them the Jews left 
the tribe condition for the unity of the nation. 

The true principle of unity is that of God's will. 
All his attiibutes come under the same will. This is 
where the heathen made their great mistake. The true 
unity of the divine nature is in the inner being. It is 






POLITICS. 



the unity of the Spirit of God — the unity of person.- 
In the works of creation God made known the unity 
of his will and Spirit. In this dispensation God aims 
to bring together all things in one in spirit. In heathen- 
ism there can be no unity. God has led his people up 
step by step toward a higher unity. 

Washington became the great leader for union in our 
early national existence. States' rights or the trite 
principle was the great trouble. 

God's external providences compelled his people to 
the idea of unity. God brought war upon them to 
bring them together as a nation. Then they wanted 
spiritual union. Then God taught them holiness, which 
is the unity of all the divine attributes. 

The Jews have ever stood as a nation because they 
were built upon a principle of unity. Yet it was 
outward and not spiritual unity. Christ brought the 
true spiritual unity ; and the gates of hell can not 
prevail against his church because of this spiritual 
unity. 

Nations fail because they lack inner unity. The 
Jews were not to make any image of that unity It st 
they should become satisfied with outward national 
unity. The Jewish nation was kept in unity under the 
control of one will. 

The Ten Commandments were their const tution, 
and the seventy judgments their general laws. They 
were born in Egypt in slavery, and God appeared to 
them as their deliverer and benefactor. He revealed 
the principle of his nature in the commandments. He 
chooses them with free good-will, and requires them to 
seek him in the same manner. He makes a covenant 



70 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

with them, they using their own free-will. Hence the 
book of the law is often called the book of the cove- 
nant — the Old Testament. 

God claims their interest and love because he was 
interested in and loved their fathers. God was to be 
their king and rule by law. It is the idea of our day 
that the power is not in the man, the ruler, but in the 
principle of law. The tabernacle is the palace of the 
king, and the mercy-seat his throne. There is no 
image of any being there, but the sovereign is the law. 

Sinai is God's choice place of all the earth to show 
forth his divine purposes. The land of these most 
interesting scenes has been spoken of as the navel of 
the world. The people came together here in mass- 
meeting to hear God's proposition to them, but after 
they have had time to think they send their seventy 
representatives to express their will toward him. The 
seventy elders were the heads of houses, or represented 
them. Age is the one natural claim on our reverence. 

Notice the legislative processes. Jehovah first spoke 
the words in the hearing of all the people. Then 
Moses goes up and brings down the words and re- 
hearses them the second time for adoption by the 
people. Then God writes them upon stone. There 
were eighty distinct items to be voted on. Here was 
the beginning of a new relation of Israel to Jehovah. 
The twelve pillars the first foreshowing of the New 
Jerusalem with its twelve gates. 



The Hebrew people was the hope of the world, and 
the aim of Moses was to keep them separate from the 



POLITICS. V 7 

world. The first settlers of New England read Moses 
much, and our people owe more to him than to our 
great men. We have to study Moses as a wonderful 
man. He was perfect in all true greatness, both private 
and public, as leader, priest, prophet, author, poet, 
and man of science. He was a statesman. 



Despotism everywhere has the same line of policy. 
They are all imitators of Nebuchadnezzar. If that 
idea had been carried out the * ' kingdom of heaven " 
would not have been possible among men. God put 
them down. 



EDUCflTIDN 



The truest and highest education is that of the will. 
Man may not need mathematics in the next world, but 
he will need the education of the will. That will 
always be of value. We think too much of intellect. 
Man may know as much as the devil, and be as rebell- 
ious. We want educated wills. 

Ideal education is fanciful. Let us take the beautiful 
examples in God's great school book of the world. 
Things are real. The stream can not rise higher than 
the fountain ; neither can man rise higher than the 
nature that is in him. God did not create the world 
and then leave it. He has been raising up men of 
great and good souls, and they are real men. True, 
there is an ideal, in the Bible, of the coming man. 
Christ was the great ideal ; but he came, and was a real 
man, and we may walk in his steps. God's Sabbath- 
day faithfully and wisely kept will give a man a better 
education than college learning. We find in the Bible 
the germs of all God's science. What we should seek 
always is God's education. All earthly things are to 
-educate us for his service, and this life is our course of 
study. The Sabbath is given for that purpose. It is a 
portion of time set apart to begin to make life holy. 



EDUCATION. 79 

His time is all holy, and thus he would have us to use 
it. God gives us the Sabbath that there may be a 
beginning of making time holy, and it will not cease 
till we make all our time holy. The true Sabbath is 
found in the spirit of Jesus Christ; it is spiritual — the 
Sabbath of God. God saw all that he had made, that 
it was very good. He rejoiced in the works of his 
liands. 

The Sabbath is pre- eminently for educa'ion, that the 
whole life may become Sabbath, or that which the 
earthly Sabbath represents. The Sabbath school idea 
is as old as the time of Moses. 



Our system of education places too much stress upon 
cuteness. Wisdom confers length of days; and the 
nation that is without wisdom will go like the prodigal 
son. 

A mother's constitution undergoes a change by means 
•of the germ from the father, so that she becomes like 
her husband. When we graft a tree, the root supplies 
the sap but the fruit is like the graft. 

All great and continuing reforms must be built on 
universal principles. God must be in it. It is a great 
thing to be able to see what society needs ; but it is a 
much greater thing to be able to get the people to adopt 
what they need. 

St. Paul did not go to preaching till three years after 
ihis call. He was in Arabia, probably reading the Bible. 



80 REV. AUSTIN CKAl'G.. 

A pastor is an educator. ""Feed my sheep." He 
is not only to care for new born souls, but the lambs 
are to be trained. The education of the school of 
Christ aims to make a perfect man. Not so with other- 
schools. 

Intellect is subordinate to the affections. The best 
teacher enlists the affections. In Christ's school educa- 
tion begins at the bottom. It begins by purifying the 
affections. Now these affections are of various kinds, 
and they are involuntary. 'Some are selfish and others, 
are unselfish. There are natural affections and spiritual 
affections. There is the love of beauty,, and the love 
of truth for truth, and the love of right because it is 
right. And there are still higher affections — for God.. 
These are more difficult to understand now, but if we 
follow on we shall know the Lord. The love of excel- 
lence, or love of perfection,, seems to be infinite.. 
These are some of the affections of the soul, and they 
exist in the little child as germs in the seed. The 
natural life is the foundation of the spiritual life. He 
must be born into the natural life first, and the natural 
has the first chance ; and he may be so much taken up 
with the natural as not to seek nor find the spiritual.. 
Yet the germ, or seed, of the spiritual life is in him.. 
Now these spiritual germs need a different sun and 
warmth than do the seeds of natural life. "Bring, 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," 
as said St. Paul. 

Evil makes a more vivid impression on the mindi 
than is made by gocd. 



EDUCATION. SI 

For a long time there were but three professions. 
Now the missionaries to heathen lands have a medical 
education. I could wish that all pastors might have 
some knowledge, at least, of physiology. 



Robert Owen, of Scotland, was an atheist, and a 
very good man. He spent his life in doing good. 
But what made him ? He did not make himself. His 
natural qualities, which were inborn, and his education 
made him. But for Christ he never would have been 
so kind and good in his nature. 

Anything melodious takes deep hold upon us. I 
wish that we all might be able to use music and song 
in our ministries. It is a great thing to be able to take 
the truth of God and sing it into the hearts of the 
people. All the great epochs in the history of God's 
people were ushered in by song. How much singing 
there is of God's truth in the Bible ! 

There are many things which young people will 
learn, which they ought to know from the right sources,, 
as a part of their education. 

We are so constituted that we can not use up any 
power of our nature. 

God gave the law and commandments to Moses at 
Mount Sinai, that they might be taught to the people. 



82 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

How different was this from the Egyptian priesthood, 
who hid their knowledge in secret ciphers. 

The Roman Catholic Church will not let the people 
read the Bible yet, and they are trying to prohibit it 
from the common schools. The priests were to be the 
teachers of wisdom to the people, and were to be 
supported for that purpose. "The priests' lips should 
keep knowledge. " 

The prophet is the spiritual man of the old dispensa- 
tion. The Levites were the teachers. T he people 
were then taught by object-lessons, and they lost sight 
of the spiritual meaning and learned to look on the 
outward things as the great considerations. 



The tabernacle was a great parable. The word 
parable is Greek, meaning one thing alongside of 
another, or one signifying another of a higher kind. 
Sometimes it means comparison. The tabernacle was 
a representation of spiritual things. The plan was given 
to Moses by God, and was a pattern of heavenly 
things. Jehovah first taught by parable in the garden 
of Eden. He made the trees object-lessons. Indeed, 
the whole earth is a parable. 

God's chosen individuals were also typical, and the 
history of Israel was a parable. Moses and Joshua, 
John the Baptist, and Jesus. Moses prepared the way, 
and^ Joshua brought them to their promised land. 

The voice is the most perfect medium or symbol of 
• character. Gcd spoke and answered by a voice. No 



EDUCATION. 83 

image of it could b^ made. Speaking is a familiar 
communication. The outward voice comes from the 
ideas of the mind and impulses of the bosom. 

What does the .number forty signify ? Has it any 
typical sense ? No part of God's book is without mean- 
ing, surely; and Christ said "not one jot nor tittle shall 
pass away." There is a lack of fancy in numbers, but 
Plato, who was a great thinker, and came to the 
. threshold of God, dealt much in numbers, and taught 
that the great idea of God was numbers. 

Touch and smell are the most sensuous of the 
senses; sight and hearing are the most spiritual. Ma- 
homet's heaven was full of the ideas of the lower 
senses; the Christian's heaven is full of the higher 
senses and spiritual things. 

The tabernacle was made of the most costly and 
beautiful materials, and the blue, and purple, and 
scarlet were the royal colors, and it was required that 
.all the offerings for it should be nude on the voluntary 
principle. The tabernacle became in their minds the 
beauty of holiness. Think of the effect it must have 
had upon the minds of the children as they went up to 
worship. 

The providence of God is seen in inventions. Men 
of all good callings are inspired. The first bo3k 
printed was the Bible. The discovery of printing was 
providential. There are different degrees of inspira 
don; the highest inspiration is that of Christ. * 



84 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The heavenly Father makes use of various gifts to 
accomplish his works, and sometimes the agent is will- 
ing and sometimes not. Man may not be a co-worker 
with God, and therefore have no reward. "If I do 
these things willingly I have my reward/' said St. Paul. 
God sends into the world such men as are needed for 
his purposes. 

The plan of the arrangement of the veils of the 
tabernacle was like man's organization, going from the 
heart outward. All science and art are from God. 

There are these three things showing a call to the- 
ministry: God's part, the opportunity for the work;, 
the man's part, the sense of duty; the people's part, 
the acknowledging him for the place. 

Memory depends upon conditions. Attention is the 
main thing, and that depends upon one's affections for 
the subject. 

All knowledge comes from love, and is of two kinds, 
that which comes from outward principles and condi- 
tions, and that which springs from the heart. "The 
spiritual man discerneth all things ; " that is, all things 
relating to spiritual subjects; but "he is discerned by 
no man." The pure have nicer perceptions of impure 
things than the impure. 

God's book of life is being continually written in our 
own natures. It is like sympathetic ink. When it is 



EDUCATION, 85 

cold it is invisible ; but when you warm it, it becomes 
plain. So a man's life, when he comes into the inner 
presence of God's love, will be seen by himself as it is ; 
it will all come out plain, and it will draw him to God 
or repel from him. 

God designs the natural world to be in harmony with 
and to have an influence in the redemption and perfec- 
tion of man. Everything was made for the perfection 
of souls for God. The value of thought is that it is 
capable of becoming affection. The covering of the 
ark and the border of the robes were blue, and the 
sight of this color produces pleasant thoughts of God. 
The landscape of Sinai was red, and that color, to the 
Hebrews, brought the feelings of desolateness and 
strangeness. Red, to them^ was the symbol of evil, 
because of the desert influences. 

The heathen made sacrifices to the gods of the desert 
to propitiate for sin and to take away the mischief of 
the evil one. This may be the significance of the red 
heifer offered for sin. 

In the c Id dispensation sin and death are put together. 
Hence the Jews had a great aversion to a dead body, 
Christianity has entirely changed the associations of the 
places of the dead. 

Notice that nothing is said under the ceremonial law 
of the nature of sin; they were yet too low down for 
metaphysics. They understood sin only by death. 
This is the first thing to get sinners to do — to connect 
sin with death and teach them so that they may not fear 
death, but sin. All that is terrible in death is the result 



86 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

of sin. We do not need the red heifer now, but there 
was a time when it was needed. 



Moses disobeyed God by striking the red when he- 
was only to speak the word. He put himself too much 
forward. There is great power in humility and modesty. 
There is no good in scolding. Moses spoke in a wrong 
spirit. He sinned, and took away the glory of God. 
The preacher should keep himself in the background 
and put the word of the Lord forward. 

Why should people put on mourning-clothes at all? 
Ministers would do well to advise families not to take 
such trouble and expense, which, often, they are not 
able to bear. It is nothing but a superstitious notion. 



Why did God make such a country the theater of his 
manifest providences ? Because it is the best place in 
the world for the preservation of history. Things there 
naturally become stereotyped. There was no real 
history till God made it. The mere account of the 
self-will of men is not history. God's history is written 
in the monuments and ruins of the ancient world. The 
land and the climate are adapted to the preservation of 
the sources of history. Obelisks of stone, which in 
Egypt had been in perfect preservation for three or four 
thousand years, when taken to France, soon began to 
decay. 

It is God's providence that these antiquities should^ 
be preserved as testimonies to these later ages. 



EDUCATION. 87 

Nature and society both were stereotyped in those 
Bible countries, to be a standing proof of the truth of 
the Bible history. 

We find in Arabia the same kind of life that charac- 
terized the times of Jacob and his sons. It stereotypes 
the patriarchal conditions. 

The terrible bloody fact of the extirpation of the 
enemies of Israel stands with no apology for it. God 
was pleased to destroy a sinful condition of society 
which was too bad to be cured, and Israel was the 
means. The difference of our feelings and the feelings 
of those who live on the frontiers and suffer from the 
Indians will illustrate the case in some decree. 



The Bashan region is called the place of sacred 
romance. Elijah was from that eastern region, about 
Mount Gilead. Jephtha was also from the same region ; 
and to understand these characters we must understand 
the general conditions of that region, the influence of 
which is seen in the literature of Israel. 

Elijah was a great man, and a rough one. He was 
the greatest soul, from Moses up through — a man of 
great will, who could both speak words of love and slay 
the enemies of God. Than the example of Elijah in 
his prayer for rain, there is no better in the Old Testa- 
ment. He could run better than Ahab's best horses. 

Balaam was also from the East. He was a professor 
of religion. Elijah was not much of a professor, but 
a confessor. The contrast between Moses and Balaam 
is instructive. Both were men of great gifts. Balaam 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

was a great prophet of the old political world, and he 
foretold Europe. His character is an interesting psy- 
chological study. 

There is no book of such value for the study of man 
as the Bible ; and the great study of man is that of his 
will. A man's personality resides in his will. 

The Bible deals with man in his relations to the king- 
dom of God. A man's relations to the kingdom of 
heaven depend upon the nature of his spirit. 



The New Testament finds a place for all the people 
of the world in the great plan of God. Every nation 
has had its place and work for the good of the world 
of mankind. 

There are two ways of holding people together : by 
outward force, as a barrel is held by the hoops, and by 
the attractive force of love, as the principle of life in a 
tree. As Christ said, " And I, if I be lifted up, will 
draw all men unto me." Love divine and human, 
drawing men together, makes the only true church. 
Love is the attractive and organizing force of the 
church. Human loves are the cords to draw men to 
Christ and divine love. A man, to know Christ, must 
be spiritual; and to be spiritual a man must know 
Christ This is no contradiction, for in Christ there 
are two conditions of life, human and divine. See how 
the apostles went out and brought men together in 
Christ. They told the simple story of Christ's life, and 
drew men to love him as a man. From that they came 



EDUCATION. 89 

or were brought to know Christ as still living, to love 
us as the Son of God. Thus immortality is given to 
our lives. Mere teaching will not do it. The love of 
God goes beyond knowledge. The highest manifesta- 
tion of love made the cross necessary. Angels would 
not need it, but the hearts of the people must be touched. 

A great deal of conversion, it seems to me. is merely- 
proselyting. The study of the human heart is most 
necessary to the success of the minister. 

No man is naturally born into the kingdom of God 
but I do believe that some are born much nearer to it 
than others. The church of Christ is the spirit of 
motherhood. The church begins with the children. 
"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not." The way to begin the church is by pre- 
senting the story of Christ's love. Your own natural 
sympathies will do much toward it. The place for a 
man to do his work is right at home, in the midst of 
those he loves and who love him. " Go home and tell 
thy friends what great things the Lord has done for 
thee." Build up a church only where there is a need 
of it. The great interests of the Lord are above all 
denominations. The work should be like that of the 
leaven. Talk it up from house to house. Let your 
meeting be the result of a growth in the hearts of the 
people. That is the way in which Paul did it. What 
can we do for the community? What can we do for 
those who are already of Christ ? "Meet often and 
speak to each other." What can we do for the chil- 
dren ? Use all the little human attachments to bring 
them together, and as you make these attachments, tie 
them on to Christ. 

7 



"90 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The meek and quiet Moses chooses for his companion 
and leader, the warrior, Joshua. According to the law 
of selection, men seek those who compliment them. 
We must not think that the man most accessible of God 
is the meek, soft, weak man. He prefers the strong 
and energetic. 

God calls men in that way in which they can best 
understand him. To the star-gazer he gives a star, and 
the fishermen are called by a draught of fishes. Moses 
was called in the burning bush, and Joshua sees a man 
with drawn sword. Moses was called for a teacher; 
Joshua for a military man. His age required courage 
and strength. 

The advantage of writing words spoken is that it 
impresses them upon two senses, both sight and 
Shearing. 



L AN G-U R &E 



The English language is a composite language, and 
its origin may be traced to many different sources. For 
this reason it is the most flexible of languages. 

The Old World is naturally divided into the north 
and the south by several great mountain systems; and 
because of this division there has always been two 
great races of men known in history as the north race 
and the south race. 

This is no doubt providential, as it is said by the 
psalmist, " Thou hast made the north and the south." 
<Psalm 89: 13.) 

Differences in climates and productions have their 
influences upon the characteristics of people and in the 
formation of their speech and language. For instance, 
most all the garden vegetables and fruits came originally 
from Persia. 

The necessary occupations of the north and south 
are therefore different, and each different occupation 
has its peculiar qualities and modes of speech. 

The social state of people is another consideration 
with respect to language. In the north there was the 
tribe condition ; in the south, the national state. In 
the north, in the tribe condition, men lived a wandering, 
active, out-of-door life, and hence physical life was 



92 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

powerful. Contact with nature gives strong perceptive 
and instinctive minds, but such people hate books. 
Now it is out of this north race that we have come. 
We were civilized by invention, but the barbarian is in 
us yet. 

The people of the south are naturally more refined 
and cultivated. The shepherd kings were from the 
north. They were known to the Greeks as Scythians, 
and to the Romans as the German people. The Celts 
and the Romans are the Catholics, and Catholicism is- 
Romanized Christianity. The Romans conquered all 
but the Germans, who were our forefathers. From the 
Romans they learned the lesson of organization, and, 
passing from the Rhine, subdued them. They came 
first as rovers and marauders, but coming in contact 
with civilized life they were instructed by it, and finding 
that they could do better than to rob, they finally 
settled, and became the barons who built the castles of 
the middle ages. The poor people were settled about 
these castles, and thus grew up towns; and so this 
people grew out of the tribe condition into the national. 
Then they were converted to Christianity, and Chris- 
tianity is the most historical of all religions. The 
Christian wants to know the story of the human race, 
and so, having become Christians, the Germans began 
to study history. Here comes in the value and use of 
language. Languages are the keys of human history. 

By and by the Germans went over to England. Then 
there became two divisions of the German race, one 
tending north, the other south. English history begins 
with the ''Heptarchy," or seven tribes of the Saxons, 
who became united under the great and good King, 



LANGUAGE. 93 

Alfred, who, with our Washington, are the two great 
•characters of English history. And so we shall see 
that language is a growth. It is the key to the spiritual 
life of a people. All that a people have done in their 
higher life goes to produce their history. 

Naturally there is but one language, having many 
different branches. As in the English language there 
are different classes and occupations that use different 
terms, so it is on a larger scale with the different nations. 
There is but one language among men, but no one man 
has occasion to use it all. Greek and Latin are sister 
tongues, as arej.the German and English. From the 
Greeks we get metaphysical and scientific terms; from 
the Latin, military and civil, etc. A tongue becomes 
perfect as it combines all these in its use. Culture 
unites them in the individual. 

There are four families of nations in Europe which 
•came from the natural north and south divisions of Asia. 
First, the Greek-Latin, from the south, through Asia 
Minor; second, *the Celts, which came by way of the 
north; third, in separate tribes, from central Asia, 
came the Goths, the stem of the great Germanic tree, 
of which we are a branch; and, fourth, the Slavonic, 
from the north, which spread over Russia. 

The human unit is the individual; the first social unit 
is the family; the second, the tribe, by the separation 
of families; now, between war and commerce, the 
tribes are united to make nations, which is the third 
condition. There is one more unit, to which we have 
not yet come, the human family — the world of man- 
kind. 



*Mr. Craig'must have forgotten to state in this connection that the Celts 
.-came into Europe also by the southern route. — Ed. 



94 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Nations, as related to the human race, are as the 
tribes related to the nations. The German, plus the 
ocean, makes the Englishman. 

The language of a people is the real history of that, 
people. Commerce is not only material but mental.. 
There are many unconscious influences upon character. 

There is no perfect language yet, nor will there be 
till all the powers and faculties of man are fully and 
perfectly developed. ' No cne nation comes to this 
perfect condition, but each is bringing in its attainments, 
toward that great object. 

All nations are flowing together in America. One 
hundred years from this we may reasonably think that 
in this nation there will be two hundred millions of 
people speaking the English language. All nations are 
to be united and amalgamated in one human race. 
Physical grossness will give place to spiritual beauty,, 
and all antipathies will be broken down. Spiritual life- 
makes physical beauty, which will make its way any- 
where. 

We are taking something from all languages. The 
English language is two languages rolled together. The 
effects of Babel are to be done away, and there will be 
one speech, one science, one religion, and one human, 
whole. 

The object of these lectures is to show the nature, 
value, and use of the English language. 

Individuality and independence of character were 
the natural results from the conditions of the north 
races. The opposite was the natural result of the souths 
races. We see this in the contrast between Germanism; 



LANGUAGE. 95 

and Romanism. There is individual freedom in the 
former and none in the latter. 

The great mountain barriers between the north and. 
the south become less and less as you go from the east 
to the west, so that the north and south races come 
together as they approach the west. The north races 
find passes through the mountains and pour down into 
the south. 

The course of empire is from east to west. From 
Babylon to Persia, from thence to Antioch and Alexan- 
dria, Greece, Rome, and north-west Europe — so went 
the south races. The course of the north races was 
westward, also, and when they came to the country of 
France, where the field seems to be left open on pur- 
pose for their uniting with the south, they came into 
position by conquering the Romans. 

Their individual force of character was needed for 
the greatest good of mankind and for their own salva- 
tion as a race, and they came just when they were 
needed, too. 

The region just opposite the south of the island of 
Great Britain is the point where the civilization of the 
north had to stop, for it could go no farther. 

The south races also brought up on the borders of 
the sea near England. 

In the providence of God these two great opposite 
races approach each other at or near the same point, at 
a place where the great barriers between the north and 
south cease. They could take but one more stand in 
the history of the east, and that in the island of Great: 
Britain. It seems as if God designed that they should 
here come together and be fused into one new race and 



06 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

form a new language and a new people who should rule 
the world. This brings us to the formation of the 
English language, which is really composed of two 
languages rolled together. 

This new people became a race of robbers, having a 
great thirst for land and dominion. At first they went 
over to the islands in boats to rob and plunder; but 
finding it a fine country they finally went over to stay. 

The first kingdom was that of the Saxons. Augus- 
tine II. was then sent by the Pope of Rome to convert 
the Saxons. The papacy of Rome was the first great 
civilizer of Europe. 

The next great event was the addition of a new 
element of population. The Saxons were a stay-at-home 
people. They did not take to the sea enough. Under 
the great and good King Alfred the people of England 
had become united, and were in a condition to advance. 
The position of England is favorable. From there it 
is down hill to all the world. The plans and unities of 
the^lands and waters of the world indicate that the 
great position of the English-speaking people is provi- 
dential. . Still it is the soul of the people that molds its 
language, and the English language is the result of the 
uniting the two great tongues of the north and the 
south. 

One branch of the Germanic race settled in Norway, 
where the natural conditions made them adventurers. 
They became seamen, pirates, and the scourge of the 
seas. 

The Saxons were steady, stay-at-home people, and 
the Normans were active and adventurous. They 
came down and conquered France, the north part of 



[LANGUAGE. 97 

which has for a thousand years been called Normandy. 
They hid not only activity of body but of mind. They 
took to study. 

The German soul is powerful. The great movements 
of society came from the German soul — the Reforma- 
tion, printing and other inventions, for instance. The 
Norman combined French activity with the steadiness 
of the German. 

The French language is that of the land; the English 
is the language of the ccean. The French is the lan- 
guage of conversation and diplomacy. It is also con- 
crete and social. The Normans learned French and 
-cultivated a taste for agriculture, and they stayed there 
until they lost their old Gothic speech and habits. 

In 1066 they made a move for England. At the 
battle of Hastings the Saxons were beaten by the Nor- 
mans. 

England always had the best luck when she got 
beaten. But for the battle of Hastings going as it did 
the English would have been second or third instead of 
first. It was luck, again, when they were beaten by 
the Scotch ; and so again when they lost America. 
They see it now. 

The influences which made the English an oceanic 
people, that they might be the civilizers of the world, 
were providential. The Normans being driven from 
France by the " Maid of Orleans," sought to become 
the sovereigns of England, and did. The serfdom and 
slavery of the Saxons was complete. They wore collars 
with their masters' names on them. Thus came the 
amalgamation of the Norman and Saxon. 

French is Latin at second hand ; and civil, political, 



98 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

legal, and military terms are from the Norman-French. 
They came into the language because the Normans 
were the sovereigns, and the rulers, and the military, 
etc. Thus by the Norman conquest came to the 
English all these Norman- French words. The French 
is the Latin clipped. 

There is no influence on language like that of relig- 
ion. It gives spiritual perception. And religion and 
metaphysics are nearly related. 

Metaphysics is the science of our own natures. 
Science is classified knowledge, whether of mind or of 
nature. 

There is science of soul as well as of body. Science 
winnows out false impressions. The first step in science 
is correct observation, for which training is necessary* 
After observation comes classification, which proceeds 
by agreements and differences. 

The two great departments of science are analysis 
and synthesis. Take the human skeleton in a heap, 
separate it into classes, and then put it together, and 
you have an illustration of the processes of science. 
Science grows up by the observation of facts, and the 
proof of their reality. And just so the science of the 
soul grows up within us. Metaphysics begins with 
spiritual experiences. And here let me say that Chris- 
tianity is not the only spiritual religion, yet the only 
perfect one. 

The idea of religion is to present to man a holy law 
by which he shall gauge and direct his life. Its theater 
is the soul within him. He studies his own bosom, how 
to control his thoughts and feelings and will, and he 






LANGUAGE. 99^ 

finds three classes of powers within him. This is the 
study of metaphysics. 

The imagination takes the abstract thoughts and 
weaves them into images which seem real, and he is led 
to study himself. It is religion that makes a man go 
inside himself. Spiritual religion stands at the door 
and knocks, and it opens the new world of spiritual 
life. Heathenism is content with the outside world of 
nature, and heathen people come to religion through 
metaphysics. 

Now theology is the application of metaphysics to 
revelation, and imperfect metaphysics leads to dogma- 
tism. Men jump to hasty theories in science; and just 
so it is in religion. We do not know enough of man's- 
nature and of religion to form a perfect system. 

Religion gives birth to metaphysics, and hence comes 
the necessity of new words. All new things require^ 
new names, whether in the mind or soul ; and so when 
the Saxons embraced religion they came to coin new 
words. Again, knowledge of the inner life gives new 
processes of thought. And so we trace the growth of 
language in the human race much the same as in 
children. 

In the Hebrew the verb is the mother of all words.. 
It is the noun in action. 

Life has the greatest impression on us. The noun is 
in us the desire and action indicated by expression and 
action. Spiritual religion discovers the inner man, and 
thus brings out the internal organizing principle of 
language. 

At Babel they fell away from spiritual unity, and 
thus losing the spiritual principle of religion, confusion 



100 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

of language grew up as a natural result. When man- 
kind come back to spiritual unity they will return to 
unity of speech. There will still be the language of 
classes, but one general language. Christianity is 
making that language, and all the nations of the earth 
are bringing in something to add to its perfection, that 
there may be universal thought, speech, and love to 
God. 

Think, now, what Christianity did for the language 
of the Saxons. It was the summing up of all the influ- 
ences of Jehovah's education of the Jews and the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, The word "amen," for 
instance, came down to us clear from Abraham, whose 
life was an " amen " to God. It was then a verb. 

Every great moral or spiritual change in a language 
sends a great many words out of it. Religion converts 
all there is about a people — language and all. The 
change is on the principle of analogy. Terms for 
material things become spiritual. " Spirit," for instance, 
is from the Hebrew ruac/i, signifying breath or wind. 

Conversion to pure religion casts out gross and 
sensual words. The heathenism of the south was that 
of impurity; that of the north, of ignorance. 

The Maine law of nature was in the north, where, at 
that time, there was no means of intoxication. The 
.most intoxicating thing they had was their old and sour 
mares' milk. 

The south people were beastly. The change of the 
language of our forefathers was the converting of their 
words to spiritual meanings and use. Those changes, 
for the most part, were in the Hebrew, Greek, and 
Latin. The most important words were those of the 



LANGUAGE. 101 

Hebrew. It was Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that were 
written over Christ on the cross, which is a hint to the 
great conversion of language. The first name which 
was changed was that of God. The change was from 
the heathen idea of many gods to the one true and 
living God. Next, that of the Sabbath-day, which has 
such a great educating power and influence. No people 
can be heathens if they truly keep the Sabbath. 

The Hebrew people taught the world to pray, and 
the words Jehovah, Sabbath, prayer, praise, and Messiah 
are all from the Hebrew. In Christianity, Hebrew, 
Greek, and Latin combined in use, as it was the sum of 
all civilization, so that these words are universally in 
use in the Christian world and are the foundation of 
our language. 

The Latin came next, with its influence. The word 
sounds from the five wounds of Christ. The first use 
that a converted people make of their new language is 
to swear by it. And it is a great change from swearing 
by their heathen gods to swearing by the true God. 

We have lost many popish terms. The inner spirit 
of Romanism was Christianity. In the outward form, 
the first translation of the Bible was at Alexandria ; but 
in the spirit, it was first translated at Antioch. It is 
interesting to study the history of the various religious 
terms, such as presbyter, episcopus, etc. From the 
Latin we get those terms of external service in politics 
and religion. 

The Greek has enriched our language with the most 
important words. The term Christianity is from the 
Greek. Christendom, however, has the Latin termi- 
nation, domus, master. 



102 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Christianity is converting all languages and bringing 
them back from the Babel condition. No man can 
become a Christian without coming into fellowship first 
with God and then with his fellow man. 

Thousands of our words are from the Greek. 

Language is the medium of God's communication 
with man — not the only mode, to be sure. There is 
ilanguage without words. The animals have their lan- 
guage by gesture and intonations. Feelings are ex- 
pressed by action. Insect language is by contact. 

There is the language of nature. "The heavens 
•declare the glory of God." Nature has dumb speech 
only to dumb souls. 

All great feelings become sources of pain to us unless 
we can express them. They burn in the soul until 
they are uttered. The subject of language is of great 
importance, and society has need to understand it. 
The inspiration of the spirit, or speaking with tongues, 
and the speaking to one's self in the spirit are topics of 
the deepest interest. 

The heart is greater than the head, and love than 
knowledge. A man may feel high deep things of 
which he can not express an idea. Paul did not think 
much of speaking in tongues which relieved the soul 
"but did not instruct. We must be able to teach. There 
are different kinds or modes of comprehension. All 
■can not be made to understand by the same methods of 
thought and illustration. Different classes of minds 
need to be drawn out in different ways. Christ is our 
great example in this. Illustrations from science are 
often very helpful. Educated people are abstract in 
thought; common people are concrete. 



LANGUAGE. 103 

We have seen that our language is made up of two, 
the' north and the south. From the north came con- 
crete words ; from the south came abstract terms. The 
Saxon was concrete ; the classfeal tongues were abstract. 
One was the language of the senses, the other of the 
intellect. 

The Hebrew and Saxon are similar. Saxon words 
are slnrt and adapted to concrete preaching for chil- 
dren. Abstract preaching is adapted to the trained 
intellect. The language of children is Saxon. It is 
interesting to study the growth of linguage in the indi- 
vidual. The lips get the first gymnastics, for the first 
•sounds of language are made with the lips. The words 
" father" and "mother," in all languages, are made 
with the lip letters. Tne words of children are mono- 
syllables. 

The study of metaphysics should begin with child- 
hood. We must commence"' 9 with the observation of 
facts. Metaphysics must not Tre too much separated 
from physics. 

The first study of the child is the hand, in which 
there is wonderful power. In it the world of mind and 
matter meet. It is the tool of all tools — hammer, saw, 
chisel, and gauge, and is too much used for the first 
and last. Mathematics begins with the hands. Gener- 
ally speaking, all that can be known by observation and 
consciousness can be expressed Jin words of one sylla- 
ble. All the organs and processes of the body, posi- 
tions, etc., as legs, walk, eyes, see, etc. So also the 
mind, in its primary powers, can be expressed in simple 
words, as think, doubt, etc. Now all these classes of 
words are Saxon. 



104 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

As to the style of one's language, the spirit is the- 
great thing in the preacher, and the manner of express- 
ing it is next. By the study of children we come to 
the simplicity of the gospel; and we must become as 
little children to receive the kingdom of God. Rhet- 
oric is a virtue instead of an accomplishment. A 
comparison of the English and Roman Bibles is a. 
profitable study. 

Christianity has not originated all the good things of 
civilization, but it is the foster-mother of all that is 
good. When our Saxon forefathers became converted 
they began to go to school. 

Christianity, in its saving power, is a system of prin- 
ciples; yet in the highest sense it is the kingdom of 
heaven. It is like the mustard-seed. 

The spirit of truth and love are the great organizing 
powers of Christ's kingdom. When our forefathers 
were converted they turned from heathenism and faced 
Christ, taking one step toward him. This made them 
Christians in name. Next, they became purified in 
their social natures. This was the first step toward 
nationality. Next, they needed to bring science to 
their use, with all its influences. 

Let us see what Christianity receives from the several 
nations. It receives the intelligence of the Greeks and 
the law and organization of the Romans. And thus 
the gospel, which is not the result of these things, 
makes use of them all for the accomplishment of its 
purposes. The Hebrew language was religious, but it 
lacked the human element which was contained in the 
Greek, in which the gospel was preached to the world. 
Nearly all the sciences are named in Greek. 



LANGUAGE. 105 

The various systems of theology have originated in 
the progress of Christianity. All these systems have a 
central principle. Every man chooses his principle as 
the center of his theories. Some take the love of God, 
some his justice, etc. Logic is the Greek system of 
thought, and logic precedes system. The military and 
legal terms in theology are from the Romans. First, 
our forefathers put away their gods, and, next, put 
themselves into the school of Christ. 

Theology is didactic, polemic, and pastoral; and all 
these stages of Christianity are necessary to the perfect 
faith and character. The critical age is necessary, and 
the skeptical age is inevitable ; and we must be able to 
meet all these things and help those who are in natural 
doubt. We must " consider all things, and hold fast 
that which is good." God does the great work of 
Christianity through the instrumentality of Christian 
men. 

In the Hebrew, religion had the heart and inspiration 
but not the intellect. It was developed in the affec- 
tions, mostly. It came west to the Greeks, where it 
received the development of its forehead. In Rome it 
received what the Greeks had not, the organizing and 
uniting element. When the Roman people were con- 
verted they brought into Christianity their particular 
genius. The Roman church was an improvement on 
the Greek. 

Christ did not teach organization. The gospel did 
not tell how to organize, but it was left for men to do, 
step by step, each nation bringing in the necessary 
element into the church. Romanism has been the 
protector of Christianity, but now is abusing its idea. 



106 KEY. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

And so Christianity speaks to mankind through all 
languages. It was written in Greek, and has always 
been able to read Greek. Next it took to Latin. The 
language of the natural man, with us, is the Saxon. In 
the intellectual and social planes we use those words 
which come from the Greek and Latin, and the lan- 
guage of our religion is from the Hebrew. 

Every man will have his own style, and should have, 
as every soul has its own individuality, which should be 
preserved. We should receive all that is good in txcel- 
lence, but should not be mere imitators of any. There 
are many influences, conscious and unconscious, which 
may affect one's language and style, and we should 
beware of them. Get your own style, and keep it. 
Form your style by the development of what there is in 
you. The real man in you will express itself. If you 
find yourself drawn too much toward any particular 
style, leave it and seek another. 

Notice the two great elements of our language in this 
respect. The Saxon is straightforward in its style. 
The straight line is that of truth ; the curve line is that 
of beauty. The Saxon corresponds with the Hebrew 
language in style. Study the styles of the gospel 
writers. Matthew and Mark wrote in the Hebrew 
style and Luke in the classical style. John also writes 
in the straight line, direct in. style. Luke begins with 
the round and classic period. As there are two 
elements in our. language, so there are two styles of 
speech possible, the direct and the round-about. 

The aim of science and philosophy is to deduce 
general laws and form ideals. Science stops with the 
laws, but philosophy goes on to frame ideals. Science 



LANGUAGE. 107 

never speaks to the heart but to the intellect. Philoso- 
phy speaks to the heart. We want a language to speak 
to the natural man and a language to speak to the 
spiritual man. 

The Saxon speaks to the natural or child-man, and 
the classics — Roman and Greek — speak to the scien- 
tific, mature, ideal, and spiritual man. The classical 
style uses large, abstract words, and is best adapted to 
scientific and metaphysical subjects. 

What should be the style of a sermon ? If it is a 
philosophical essay, it should be in the classical style. 
But is that a sermon ? The word " sermon " comes Irom 
homily, a talk with the people. It is direct. The 
early preaching was talking to the people. Late 
preaching has become discourse; it has become 
abstract. The object of preaching is to vitalize and 
quicken. The heart in us is most direct. Love and 
hate are never round-about in expression. Christ's 
preat hing was talking to the people, and the apostles' 
preaching was plain and direct In preaching, have 
somebody in your mind. Paul reasoned at Felix. 
Preaching should be personal. Wesley's preaching was 
personal. The preaching of the third and fourth 
centuries hit. The great preachers are those who draw 
characters Make men see and know themselves. 
The true preacher is the judge of the world, and he 
makes people see themselves in comparison with the 
great perfect example. Everybody is interested in 
human cl aracter and nature, and he who can sketch 
character and make people feel that character deter- 
mines destiny will never lack in interest. A man needs 
both the scientific and practical pow r er of preaching to 



108 REV. AUSTIM CKAIG. 

convince and lead men to a higher life, and the Bible- 
shows us these styles in full. 

A house, with all those things in it which pertain to 
life, may be used to illustrate the growth of our lan- 
guage. In the first story, or basement, we find the 
Saxon. All the common, necessary things in use are 
Saxon. The processes of eating are Saxon. "Wife" 
and woof are Saxon. The wife was the weaver, and 
the spinning was done by unmarried women, who went 
from house to house, and hence were spinsters. A list 
of words of Saxon origin will show that all such terms 
are specific. General terms come from the classics. 

Each nation had its particular substance upon which 
to write. " Beech " and "book" are from the same 
root, and are Saxon. 

The German language had great power to combine 
words and make new terms. 

The English and American people are cosmopolitan 
in character. " Home " is Saxon. 

We have seen that providential influences were 
brought to bear upon the Saxons. 

The French character is made up of the vivacious 
Celt and the orderly Roman. The good taste of the 
French is received by the world. In inventions the 
English stand first. 

The Saxon needs another story. Let us go up into 
the parlor, library, office, and hall. Parlor is French ; 
library is Latin. The Bible is the central object in the 
library, and "Bible" is from the Greek. Liber is the 
Latin for book. 

All our technical and scientific language is from the 
Greek and Latin. 



LANGUAGE. 109 

The parlor is the talking place. Here we have 
mirror, quartette-table, chair ; and most parlor furniture 
names are French. 

The library represents the literary and scientific 
element. All the "ologies" are from the Greek. We 
go to the office and find the Latin. Here we have law 
books and law business, etc. A great many terms of 
business use come from Latin to us. Law, as a science, 
is from the Latin. 

French is politeness, and English bluntness. 

In the office, severe ; in the parlor, polite. 

In the garret, the place of odds and ends, our lan- 
guage receives several classes of words. Up there we 
■may find an old violin, which shall stand for Italian. 
The old almanac shall stand for Arabic, and a moccasin 
for Indian, etc. 

Who can estimate the power of the right use of lan- 
guage ? ' ' A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in 
pictures of silver." "Like a nail driven in a sure 
place." 

The first necessity is to understand language in its 
proper sense. Then comes the importance of securing 
attention. And then may be added the power and 
beauty of gesture. 

One should rise to speak with deliberation, and not 
with agitation. Self-control is the great thing. Absorb 
yourself in your subject, and look for friendly eyes in 
the congregation. Get the eyes of the people, and use 
their attention economically. 

Study how to get the attention of all classes. Christ 
gained attention by parables, and stories are interesting 
in sermons. The real attention comes from the afTec- 



110 REV, AUSTIN CRAIG. 

tions. Adapt your sermon, in length, to the occasion.. 
On ordinary occasions one-half hour is enough. Dr. 
Emmons said, " No souls converted after the first half 
hour." The great thing is to get the idea in the mind. 
Make it easy for people to hear and understand. 

People use up the power of attention in listening, in- 
hearing, and in logical understanding. The power of 
attention may be held at fifty. One uses up five in 
sitting and listening, ten in hearing, and thus fifteen are- 
gone by getting the ideas in his mind. Speak, then, so 
as to make as little draft as possible on the power of 
attention 

We must use common words, but no low words; for 
low words bring low ideas. Use Saxon words for 
common people in preference to classical. Saxon 
words are vivid. Avoid bringing up low associations, 
by slang phrases. 

Gesture is often more forcible than words. 

The mind is a womb for the receptacle of germ ideas. 
Words of sense are the best remembered. 

In Saxon you can speak to all classes at the same 
time, and the mother tongue is most welcome to all. 

The more system in speech, the more ease of 
memory. 

The most easy language to remember is the poetical, 
and next to that is systematic speech. One should try 
to have a natural arrangement of thoughts. Every 
subject can be reduced to system. Some subjects are 
poetic and others scientific. Science appeals to intel- 
lect ; poetry, to the affections. Poetry is the reproduc- 
tion of nature. Children are fond of the poetic — 
picture-style. ^ he great thing is to get illustration.. 



LANGUAGE. Ill 

Knowledge of common life affords many illustrations, 
Science has many, also. The Bible figures are univer- 
sal, and proverbs and parables are always of interest. 
Solomon made a study of nature and the manner of 
communicating knowledge. 

We should study physical sciences, and we should 
seek words that will enlist the affections of the people, 
to please them; and yet we should make the form of 
speech subserve the principle to be taught. Sensible 
people will be pleased with words that they can fully 
understand. 

Remember the economy of attention. If you use a 
word of six syllables, there must be attention to each 
syllable; hence the economy of short words. Prefer 
short to long words, then, and specific to generic. 

Saxon words are imitative. The first language is 
taken from things in nature. Poetry precedes prose. 
Most of our words were made in the poetic era, before 
the world became prosy. Prose is the language of 
science. The childhood of the human family was 
poetic. Critical study takes away the poetic. 

There is a great change from the early Roman Church 
to the later Roman Church. The later papal church is 
the ministry, the people having " no part nor lot in the 
matter." There was a time when the Roman Church 
was the great teacher, ruler, and preserver of Chris- 
tianity. 

The Roman Church was not responsible for the Dark 
Ages. The main causes of that period were the inva- 
sions of the Romans by the people of the north. In 
the year 476 the Roman Empire ceased. The church 
at Rome was the richest and most powerful of the west,. 



112 KEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

and it became the great center of influence, giving . 
advice and aid to other churches. From Rome went 
forth missionary efforts which converted the barbarian 
world. They worked with the means most familiar to 
them. Their genius was organization. The Latin 
church made use of the imperial in government through 
religion. When the barbarians came down with fury, 
they were awed and checked by the cross. The 
Coliseum and other fine buildings were saved by 
mounting the cross upon them. 

The barbarians soon came to look to the bishop of 
Rome for their religion, and thus he came to have great 
influence. When our forefathers were converted they 
were more, far more ignorant than the slaves of the 
South. They could not read ; even many of their 
kings could not read. A man who could read in those 
times was thought so much of that his crime was much 
overlooked. It was impossible for Rome to teach the 
people the gospel in any other way than by preaching, 
for they could not read. 

In 1380 John Wyckliffe made the first translation of 
the Bible from the Latin. Knowledge had revived, 
and the people were eager for it. William Tyndal's 
New Testament, in 1534, was the first from the Greek. 
This was the foundation of our translation. The Latin 
church does not receive the Hebrew nor Greek; but 
the Latin Vulgate is the only authorized with them, 
and the present Catholic Bible is from the Latin. 
Thus the difference between our Bible, which is Saxon, 
and theirs, which is classical. The study of the classics 
prepared the way for the Reformation. The Latin was 
not for the common people. Any one writing for the 



LANGUAGE. 113 

multitude must write in English; but in treating of 
scientific subjects the classical language is necessary. 

In this survey of language part of the ground gone 
over was to show the providence of God in the matter. 
With God all things are religious. There is a provi- 
dence of God in language — in the formation of words. 
There is a providence of God in the mind of man 
which may be resisted. In nature all things are fixed. 
In human life there is a scope in man's will. Only the 
pure can endure. 

The providence of God is seen in our language. No 
other of all the tongues of the earth is made, up as the 
English, which has both the language of the natural 
man and the language of the spiritual man — the lan- 
guage of the north, or that of natural things, and that 
•of the south, that of culture, science, and refinement. 

There are more Bible readers in the English-speaking 
race than all the rest of mankind put together. We 
riave the seed-wheat of language, and God has opened 
the door of opportunity. North America was given to 
the English-speaking people; and its position and 
natural resources indicate that it has an important part 
to perform in the world's history. 

Our language is the language of the sea, and is 
necessarily composite, and it is still to receive elements 
from other languages. The wealth of the English 
language fits it to be the missionary language of the 
world. 

God's word may be represented by light. Christ was 
the light of the world. John was a bright and shining 
light. The great preacher is like a lamp ; he can not 
.shine until he burns. . If he does not burn he is like 



114 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG.. 

phosphorescence — cold light, even the light of corrup- 
tion. The light is the love in man; the words, the 
glass through which it shines. If the glass in the 
window is blurred or colored, the light will not have its- 
best effect. 

The great rule in preaching is simplicity. First, the 
choice of simple, pure words. Then what a man has. 
in him will express itself. Pure words imply pure and 
noble thoughts. 

The favorite preacher becomes the teacher of the 
style of the people. We want ministers to become 
married to a people, and stay to teach a generation and 
see them grow up. He should win them from all low 
language as well as from low thoughts and feelings. 
The language of new countries is gross. 

The style of the English Bible is the purest and best 
in the world. The man who forms his style by the 
Bible is safe. Perspicuity is the first thing in style. 
You must be clear, that people may understand. You 
must be forcible, so as to impress. The Saxon has both 
these elements. Use Saxon in preference to classical. 

The English Book of Common Prayer contains 
expressions of the same idea in two forms, for the 
classical mind and the common mind. It is a good 
idea to throw out the idea in two forms. 



The spirit of Mount Sinai molds the Hebrew language 
of the church : " Our God is a consuming fire." 

It is interesting to study the methods of preserving 
knowledge in ancient times. They tried to write so* 



LANGUAGE. 116. 

that people could not forget. They wrote to impress. 
Repetition in the Bible narrative is for the purpose of 
making it profound and impressive. 



The great defect of our English translation is the 
want of uniformity in the use of the same word. See 
the Greek and English Concordance. 

James is a disguised form of the name Jacob. Great 
changes have taken place in language. "It" was the 
thing hit. " It" was once spelled eight different ways. 

The name Jesus is used twice (Heb. 4: 8 and Acts 
7: 45) where Joshua should have been used. Joshua 
leads the people into their promised land, and Jesus 
leads his people also to their land of rest, 

Jacob was the father of the first Joseph, and Jacob 
was the name of the father of Joseph, the supposed 
father of Jesus. The name Judas is from Judah. Mary 
is the same as Miriam, the sister of Moses. Different 
forms of names came about through the different com- 
panies of translators. The Jews called any one of the 
same stock " brother." 



The first rule of all is, to be sure that you have 
something to say and that you feel what you have to 
say. Secondly, say it. Concentrate all your thoughts 
upon what you have to say and not on how you are 
going to say it. The scripture writers were as though 



116 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

full of new wine. They never say things for the sake 
of saying them. Every word means. Pray your heart 
full and think your mind full of your subject. 



There is a wonderful power of definiteness in the 
Greek language. If the New Testament had been 
written in Latin there would have been fifty questions 
of doubt where now we have one. 



Our word " heaven" is from the word "to heave," 
as the heavens are hoven over us. 



There is a necessity of understanding the language of 
prophecy in order to understand the book of Revelation. 

Names are the great monuments of history. If his- 
tory was lost we could tell much of the people who 
settled a country by the names of places given by them. 
Comparative philology gives us this advantage. Much 
knowledge of Bible lands may be obtained through the 
names of places in different times. 

Prositkee is the word for prayer. Pros, toward ; i/kee, 
a wish. A prayer is a wish toward God. 

Sukon, a fig; sycophant, a fig-shower, one who 
pointed out to the officers the smuggled figs, so as to 
.have their favor. 



Science -and Religion. 



The Creation. I do not attempt to tell how it is, 
but how I have come at it in my studies. Science has. 
had its growth, and those who have been in the study a 
life-time confess how little they know. The object of" 
the Bible is not to teach men science, but to teach God 
to men. If subjects of science are here, it is with the 
aim to teach God and to establish the kingdom of God 
on earth. The Bible appeals to man, as man sustaining 
relations to God; and that which is not to the point in 
this respect is passed over. It appeals to all men, and, 
therefore, must be adapted to all men. The Bible r 
therefore, uses popular language, the language of the 
senses. It speaks of appearances. The language of 
science is very different. Science seeks laws; and as 
the Bible is not to teach science, as such, I am prepared 
to find things spoken of in the Bible which are accord- 
ing to appearances but not true according to science. 
We speak of the sun as rising and setting, which is not 
science. So it may be with some of the language of 
the Bible. And so I do not look for physical science 
in the Bible. The subject of the Bible is God and 
man and their union through the God-man. 

There are these two kinds of language, popular and sci- 
entific ; and we should not criticise the one for the other. 



118 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

What was the object of the history of creation? To 
show God as the author. The whole family of man, 
except that of Abraham, was in idolatry. Now what 
is the bottom line or principle of idolatry ? It is the 
worship of the material. The worship of the true God 
is spiritual. 

All material things were worshiped; and they had so 
many gods that they could have no idea of the unity of 
creation. Now the only way to speak to any nation is 
to use the words they understand. This account of 
creation was given to teach the unity of God and con- 
found idolatry. 

The religion of the world was polytheism, excepting 
that of the Persians, who had a dual religion — two 
worlds and two gods; one physical and the other spir- 
itual. And God, through Moses, gives this testimony 
of truth against all these false systems. It was not 
written for scientific readers, but to correct error. 
True, here are scientific subjects. Mathematics is the 
basis of science, and science teaches the unity of the 
universe. But philosophy is the mother of science, 
and Moses lays the foundation of science by teaching 
the unity of the Creator. All science is based on the 
unity of the universe. There are two ways of studying 
nature — the empirical, which is by observation; the 
other by natural laws, or the type principle. 

The idea of God shapes th-e form that science takes 
in any nation or age. The affections furnish the motive. 
God is love, and hence the unity of his designs. The will 
works for the end ; hence the unity of God's purpose. 
The intellect plans ; hence the unity of God's laws. Laws 
are nothing only so far as they teach God's actions. 



SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 119 

The Bible does not settle what the world was made 
of. It is a metaphysical question. Space and time are 
the two fundamental ideas of all history and science. 
The unity of God's plans may be seen in all history. 

Science began in Egypt, from whence Europe took 
it. Religion began in Asia. Socrates was the father 
of moral science and Aristotle the father of physical 
scienre. It takes the whole universe of God to com- 
plete one soul. The progress of the world has not 
been direct. 

The Latin church had the power of organizing and 
centralizing. The Greeks speculated. In the last days 
of Rome the emperor claimed to be God. Calvin 
came and asserted the sovereignty of God. It was 
needed; but he carried it so far that he destroyed 
human freedom. That doctrine became a strong 
power ; but finally there was a reaction, which also went 
too far. Then came the subject of free-will ; and thus 
it has been in zigzag course, one extreme following 
another. The doctrine of sovereignty, carried to 
-extreme, begot two reactions — the reaction of the 
affections against it, or Universalism ; the reaction of 
the intellect, Unitarianism. Thus progress in religious 
thought has been irregular in its course, though all the 
while approaching a straight line. 

In the fifteenth century there was a great era of 
physical discovery and material interest. Spain carried 
it so far that she killed her spiritual nature, so that 
to-day she is the least spiritual of any people. 

In the sixteenth century God opened the spiritual 
world to man by means of the Reformation. 

Philosophy is abstract; science is concrete. Now all 



120 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

these things were providential; and the time has now- 
come when we are trying to harmonize both — the spir- 
itual and the natural — the Bible and science — and in 
the spirit of Christ we may find all this power of recon- 
ciliation. The world knows so much that it must know 
more; we must find harmony or let one go. The 
practical question of our age is to stem the tide of the 
love of wealth. The theoretical question is the harmony 
of the Bible and science ; and the theological question 
is the harmony of sects. 

Then we should not try to make technical science of 
the Mosaic account of creation. The animal man was 
first, and had its particular career first. There was the 
age of grossness and licentiousness. Then came the 
reaction, and religious people became ascetic. Some 
of the saints mortified the body, thinking it duty. 
When any new step in spiritual life is to be taken there 
must be a foundation of science for it to stand upon. 
This is seen in the change from patriarchal life to 
national life. You can not have a nation without terri- 
tory, material services — science. God's chosen people 
had faith, but in order that they might become a nation 
and enable them to become the kingdom of God to the 
world they must have science. For this purpose God 
sent them to Egypt to school. Thus it took the faith 
of Abraham and the science of Egypt to do the work. 
It was so in later times. There were two churches at 
first, one at Jerusalem and one at Antioch. At Jerusa- 
lem they held to the old Mosaic form; at Antioch they 
claimed that all who had the spirit of Christ were his. 
At the latter place they were first called Christians. 
Why ? Because there was a revival, and they not only 






SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 121 

had there the Holy Ghost, but they were also taught. 
At Jerusalem they had only the Holy Ghost, and were 
narrow in their views. Something more was needed. 
We must not only touch the heart but teach the head. 
The babes must be fed or they will die. And thus the 
church must be wedded to science — not merely with 
the theory, but to the real knowledge. - 

We need health. There is a shocking degree of ill 
health among Christians to-day. It has no business to 
be so. There is a shocking degree of premature death. 
It should not be. Science is needed in these things. 
The education of Moses in Egypt enabled him to make 
health-laws for the Jews. I believe we have done great 
injury by neglecting these material things. We want to 
save men and not souls. We want to learn to teach 
the people science and the laws of health and still save 
them from materialism. 



HISTORY 



We are all related to the past. No man can under- 
stand himself without knowing something of the history 
of the world. History tells the story of God's dealings 
with man. The ancient mode of preaching was histor- 
ical; they told the great events of their national history 
to their children. Indeed, that was the first way in 
which Christ was preached. We want to make people 
see the hand of God in all their lives. 



The Jews were great musicians and also natural met- 
aphysicians; but art, in the interest of the beautiful — 
which may so easily degenerate, — the Jews would have 
nothing of those things of animate nature. 



Unless a man engraves his name upon the hearts of 
people, it will perish. 

The Egyptians have preserved more of their history 
by statues, paintings, etc., than any other ancient 
nation. The atmosphere of Egypt is so dry that paint 
put on three thousand years ago is still fresh. 



HISTORY. 123 

The book of Judges is the history of a people in 
very much the same condition as that of nations in 
feudal times. 

Hooker says, "Law is from the bosom of God." 
Law is the Spirit of God. The spirit of love is the 
inner law written in the hearts of men. There are two 
systems of laws — the Mosaic, or law of the spiritual, 
and the outward force of conformity. Common law is 
the common-sense of people, and it is traditional. It 
is based on natural justice. Not so with Roman law, 
which was the will of the sovereign. In the common 
law there is a principle. It is like the Mosaic. 

The personal appearance of Christ is hardly noticed. 
This fact seems to show that the accounts of him were 
inspired. It proves that his spiritual being was so 
powerful that his influence was higher than that of 
personal appearance. The divine made more impres- 
sion than the human. 

The apocryphal history of Christ was written in the 
third century and is of no account. It is composed of 
pictures of legendary adventures. 

The greatest individual influence and power comes 
from Semitic race. Each great period of Bible history 
begins with a great individual. The patriarchal period 
begins with Abraham ; the national, with Moses ; David 
was really the first king, and Elijah was the first of the 
prophets. And so Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah 



124 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG; 

embody the great characteristics of their respective 
ages. Moses and David wrote; Abraham and Elijah 
did not. David's psalms are individual experiences. 
In Abraham and Elijah we have sublime characters. A 
degree of indistinctness is necessary to sublimity. 

The James who sat in the council at Jerusalem was 
beheaded by Herod. He was not the one who wrote 
the epistle. Some have thought that there were three 
Jameses. 

Our traditions are mainly from the Catholic Church. 
They claim that Mary had no other children. 

The Jews dislike the name of Christ because they 
have been so abused by Christians. There are about 
two hundred and fifty thousand Jews in this country. 
The richest men in the world are Jews. In this coun- 
try they are making much progress. They still read 
the Bible in Hebrew. They are not Christians, but 
have cut loose from the old traditions. They wilL 
become Christians, though they will not join with 
others. 

The object of the Scriptures is not to give a general 
history of all mankind, but to give that part which 
shows the providences of God. 

The old dispensation was blood, blood. Under the 
new, it was wine from beginning to end. Wine is the 
symbol of exhilaration, not the sign of intoxication. 



HISTORY. 125 

Wine expresses hospitality and grace. What a contrast 
between the first miracle of Moses and the first one of 
Christ. Christ takes all common things and makes 
them glad and glorious to us. 

" Ye have made void the word of God through your 
traditions." Moses said much to the people that was 
not written, and so did Christ. Many things have 
always been held through traditions. 

"The just shall live by faith" was what made Luther. 
The Reformation was a product of the German mind. 

If it had not been for the laws of Moses the Consti- 
tution of the United States would never, have been 
written. 

There are two great classes of minds — the conserva- 
tive, which is strong in the breeching and holds back 
well, and the radicals, who think if anything is old it 
ought to be left behind. But we want to " bring forth 
things both new and old." We do not know that 
revelation is yet complete. There is no truth but what 
is as old as God himself. We want to be able to take 
all the old that is good and look still for more to come. 
"Prove all things ; hold fast to that which is good.". 
The question is, Is it true? The devil's lie is nearly as 
old as God's truth. 

The age of faith necessarily precedes the age of intel- 



126 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

ligence. So it has been. As one of the bishops of 
Canterbury said, "I believe that I may understand." 
Some knowledge is necessary, that we may understand. 
Some things must be taken by faith. 

If we contrast the spirit of Moses with that of the 
rest of the world at that time, it will be very much to 
his credit. But the institutions of Moses are not to be 
compared to those of Christ. 

The oriental attitude in prayer was that of standing, 
which is the only position in prayer spoken of in the 
New Testament. 

As Christians, we are not well enough acquainted 
with our originals. " A Syrian ready to perish " was 
our father, too. We need to make ourselves historical. 

The precepts of Noah were seven in number, namely, 
not to worship idols ; not to murder; not to blaspheme ; 
no incest; not to rebel; not to rob; and not to eat 
blood. Those who kept the precepts of Noah were 
proselytes of the gate. To be proselytes of righteous- 
ness they must also be circumcised. 

Ancient cities grew up around the temples. Cities 
were at first trading-posts. Nations who held no com- 
mon faith were enemies; but they were at peace in 
these religious cities through fear of displeasing the god 
of the place. 



HISTORY. 127 

Typhon was the god or demon of the desert. It has 
been fancied that the Hebrews had a superstition that 
the scape-goat was an offering to him and took the sins 
of the people to him. 

The Sinai region is the porch of the continents. The 
habitations of God's people may be compared to the 
tabernacle. Palestine is the outward court, the desert 
the inner court, and Mt. Sinai is the holy of holies. 

The tree which was cast into the waters of Marah 
contained chemical properties, may be, that corrected 
the saltness which made it bitter. Natural laws make 
it no less providential, for natural laws are subordinate 
to spiritual designs. 

The origin of prejudices against nature is the Persian 
idea of dualism. The devil made and controls nature, 
and God made and is in the spiritual. These prejudices 
make some men shrink from the natural and cling to 
the supernatural, looking for supernatural in all God's 
providences where he simply uses the natural. 

No one can understand the spirit of the laws of Moses 
till he realizes that all the world at that time was given 
to idolatry, which was only the deism of nature. All 
God's aims were against materialism. It is difficult for 
us to understand the reason for very many of these 
little things in the law. The prohibition of linsey- 
woolsey, for instance, (Lev. 19: 19.) It was put on 
for certain idolatrous practices. They were not to sow 



128 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

different kinds of seed together, for the same reason. 
The law of kinds was taught in this. Science claims 
much here, but we find it in the oldest part of the 
Bible. Different kinds coming together can not make 
a new kind.* 

Theatricals sprung from the Greek Church in the 
middle ages. 

The witch spoke from the belly. The familiar spirit 
was in the lower parts. The Spirit of God had its place 
in the higher cavity — the chest or bosom. The sup- 
posed origin of the evil spirits of heathenism was that 
the evil spirits from below, from the caverns of the 
dead, impregnated the women in the womb, thus speak- 
ing from the bellies of the witches. 

Heathenism was full of intercourse with the dead, 
and the witches professed to hold such intercourse ; and 
so it seems to be spoken of by the prophets. The gods 
of the heathen were once men on the earth. 

Revelation gives intercourse with the living God. 
The heathen, gods would answer all inquiries. The 
living God will answer none but worthy questions. 
God's oracles are for the good of consecrated lives, to 
promote the good of men. These witches were fortune- 
tellers. They would influence the future for you for 
money. Thus we must not wonder at Moses' law, 
4i Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 

The Bible recognizes influences that we under the 
great reactions against the superstitions of the middle 

*The word " kind " is so general in its meaning that it fails, in this case, to 
convey the author's statement of a principle. — Ed. 



HISTORY. 129 

ages go too far in rejecting. We are now in the midst 
of the other extreme, perhaps. It will not do for us to 
say that there is no intercourse with the invisible world. 
There is a longing for some idea of the invisible world, 
and there has been a longing desire for intercourse with 
the departed in all ages. Preachers have not met this 
natural demand, but it is not because there is not much 
in the Bible about these things which ought to be taught 
to the people. 

Spiritualism is the modern form of heathenism. There 
are many subjects growing out of this. 

Where are our departed friends, the spirits of just 
men made perfect? What are we to understand by the 
ministry of angels? If an angel came and delivered 
Peter why may not one come to deliver me ? The 
question is whether they work in and by their office as 
sent, or by virtue of spiritual relations. Christ spoke 
of the guardian angels of children. 

The angelic conditions are higher than ours, but in 
their image the angels are no higher than we are, for 
the image of God is the highest of all. r J ne Latin 
church goes too far in these matters. 

The family of Christ, both in heaven and in earth, 
was a vivid reality to the ancient church. In our revolt 
against heathenism we have lost sight of things which 
we need to regain. We need them for our happiness 
and safety. The tendencies of spiritualism are back 
toward heathenism. This is seen in the abuses growing 
out of it. There is a lack of watchfulness in this direc- 
tion on the part of the church. Christ died to be the 
Lord both of the dead and the living. People have a 
demand here that must be met 



130 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG* 

Exodus 21 : 1. There are seventy of these judgments. 
Seventy is the number which represents the general 
interest of the whole world of mankind. There were 
seventy judges. There were twelve sent to preach the 
gospel to the house of Israel, but seventy were sent tt> 
the world at large. With Jacob, and Joseph and his 
two sons, there were seventy of the children of Israel 
who went down into Egypt. Why this number seventy ? 
Was it a round number ? Was it because they had no 
books and were not definite in such things ? We can 
raise these questions if we can not answer them. Some 
think there is nothing in these numbers, and others 
think there is something typical in them. I think there 
is something in some of them, at least. 

Seven represents the attributes of God. In the work 
of creation we see seven periods. The seventh is 
Sabbath, and Sabbath is a prophecy. The manifestations 
of God to man is by sevens. Seven is the signature of 
Jehovah. We see this in Pharaoh's seven-fold dream, 
in Baalam's seven altars, and in the seven-branch can- 
dlesticks. There are seven praises mentioned. ( Rev. 
12: 7.) Paul wrote to seven particular churches, and 
there are the seven churches of Revelation, which, 
perhaps, were typical of the different phases of the 
Christian religion ; also, the seven races of mankind. 
He who speaks has the seven spirits of God, and he 
also has the seven stars, which represent the seven 
churches. And there are seven se^s. The book is 
sealed, showing that it is for the future. 

The twenty-four elders represent the twelve patriarchs 
and the twelve apostles. The four animals represent 
all living creatures. 



HISTORY. 131 

Again, we have the seven angels with the seven 
trumpets ; the seven angels with the seven last plagues- 
with the wrath of God. The beast with seven heads 
and ten horns is heathenism assuming divine nature 
with earthly power. The book of Revelation is figura- 
tive and typical. 

How do we get the number seventy ? These num- 
bers meant something definite; and if we can take 
seven as the divine number and ten as the human 
number, we can then see why the typical family was 
one of seventy. We lack the power to appreciate 
types. 

Our ideas of the relations between man and man are 
very much more perfect than our ideas of the material 
relations to the spiritual. We do not think enough of 
the relations of numbers to God. Everything else in 
the Bible has its value, and why not numbers? 

We must not ignore traditions. The traditions com- 
ing down from the fathers may not have the authority 
of the law, but they have had much to do with forming 
our ideas religiously. 

Christ as the high-priest is spoken of in Hebrews; in 
Romans his power is spoken of; to the Greeks he is 
presented as the great teacher. 

Christianity first took root on the sea-coast of the 
Mediterranean. Maritime people naturally have more 
breadth of human knowledge and more readily receive 
new truths than the people of the interior. 



132 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The greatest good of the world is due not to any one 
nation, but to all. We can trace what each nation has 
done for the progress of the world. The world of 
mankind begins in physical unity and aims toward 
spiritual unity. All are to come together as in one 
family. One condition of life perishes to give place to 
another. The family condition gives place to the 
national state. The national life was then destroyed 
that the whole world might feel the influence. It seems 
to me that the time is come when national life, as such, 
is subordinate to the greatest good of the world. The 
tendencies' of' Christianity are to make a people, not 
nations. Christianity is the enemy of national exist- 
ence. Christians are nearer to each other than to those 
who are not Christians. Much that is called patriotism 
is|blind antipathy toward others. Yet there are tenden- 
cies toward the amalgamation of races. We are not a 
nation, but a people; and a people is higher than a 
nation. We have not a nationality, but a cosmopolite 
people. The spirit of our people is that of being all 
one in Christ. We are breaking down all distinctions, 
and are tending toward a great world unity — one 
people, one religion. 

All great leligious movements are through the Semitic 
stock; secular progress through the Japhetic. Inven- 
tions come through Japheth. The two need to be 
united. The unity of mankind will become the prayer 
of Christians. The great point to be gained is to unite 
the East and the West. 

The Jews may be invited to form a nation in their 
old land, in which all nations shall come together. It 



HISTORY. 133 

is the question of the politician, How can the East and 
the West be united ? It seems to me that there is to be 
a restoration of the Jews for the great purpose of that 
unity. The Jews will not be converted by being prose- 
lyted until they are made to see that Christians love 
them and pray for them to fulfill their call to the real 
priesthood of the world. The Japhetic race can do 
everything in science — can build up the world in all 
secular interests, — but it has not the true priesthood. 
The religious genius is not ours. The gentiles have 
more of the priesthood to-day than the Jews, but it is 
not so naturally. The priesthood of the world is a great 
and interesting subject. Where is it to day ? 

The one redeeming characteristic of the Arabs is 
regard for a covenant. They recognize no other prin- 
ciple of obligation. The great point of honor with 
them is that of hospitality. Now it was through the 
countries of such people that God's people had to go ; 
and their military organization was necessary for this 
purpose. They must either be in covenant relations 
with those nations or be ready to fight their way. 

It is difficult for us to understand the conditions of 
the desert life. We need to have their conditions 
explained so that we can understand the history of 
Moses, who was not writing for us but for those who 
needed no explanation. The study of desert life in 
general will help us. 

Notice the difference between the colors used in the 



134 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Old and New Testaments. They are bright and 
blinding in the Old, and grave and most agreeable of 
all in the New. 

The power to declare war, in Israel, was in the hands 
of the priests, and they were to ask word from God. 



Blood tells in religion as well as in other things. 
Balaam could not curse Israel, but he taught Balak how 
to make God the enemy of Israel. The harlot priest- 
esses were the instruments to draw Israel away to 
idolatry. 

Israel was at school one year at Sinai, and God was 
their teacher. He put them on the diet best for them. 
Manna was good food for students. 

Ancient history is the co-operation or conflict of Ham 
and Shem ; modern history is the co-operation, mainly, 
■ — sometimes the conflict — of Shem and Japheth. 

The tenth chapter of Genesis is the key to the history 
of the world, and without that chapter the history of 
the world can not be understood. Ham built cities ; 
Shem had the religious power. Shem was the father of 
faith, and Japheth was the teacher of science and art. 

The Jews had two years, the natural year, or that 
beginning at the time of the ripeness of the grape and 
fruit, and the religious or spiritual year, commencing 
with the direct interposition of God in behalf of his 



HISTORY, 135 

people in the deliverance from Egypt, The natural 
first, the spiritual last. Out of the wreck of the old 
came forth the new. The religious year was the year 
of humanity — of ransomed man — the Fourth of July 
of the world, 

Bible and all eastern history is not chronological nor 
consecutive. It takes up each event and carries it 
through to the end before it takes up another, which 
may be cotemporary with it. 



Egypt was the Paris of the world in the days of 
Moses. She was the leader of civilization at that time. 



The shepherd kings were roving tribes of north races 
which overran the south races. They came to Egypt 
before the time of Joseph or Jewish history. They 
were God's reserve corps of the physical man. 



The StDry nf the World, 



We purpose to tell the story of the world in the light 
of the testimony of the word of God. Of course we 
can give but a sketch. 

There is no interest of humanity that is not found in 
the Bible. But in order to understand what there is in 
the Bible we must first consider what is its great central 
object. As there is a particular object in a great paint- 
ing, around which all else centers, so the one great 
interest of the Bible is to be sought, and so the world's 
great interests cluster around the Bible as the great 
central object. 

Necessary to this survey of world history is an outline 
of the geography of the world 

Asia is the cradle of the human family. Previous ta 
the present century all world history was confined to 
Asia. 

The division of the continent of Asia and Europe 
into north and south by the great wall of mountains 
gives us the north and the south races, with their partic- 
ular and different characters. The great changes from 
high to low lands make corresponding changes in 
climate, productions, occupations, etc , all of which 
exert an influence upon character. In some parts there 
are cultivated peoples ; in others there are barbarians, 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 137 

who have always been so and always must be so as long 
as the world is as it is. There is a great inland people 
which will always be rude from very necessity. There 
is north and south in history, as there is in geography. 
God has thus made the world so that they can not corce 
together till their course westward shall bring them to 
those places where they may come together. 

There are two civilizations in history, the East and 
the West. In the east it is very old. There was civili- 
zation in Asia while Europe was yet inhabited by barba- 
rians. China and India are two great nations of great 
antiquities. 

The influence of the sea upon civilization is impor- 
tant. Those nations upon the sea are held in the arms 
of civilization. 

This is our plan of study. We shall begin in the 
book of Genesis, the tenth chapter of Genesis in par- 
ticular. This is the beginning of world history. This 
is the oldest history of the world. Herodotus, the 
father of history, began to write about the time of the 
close of the last books of the Old Testament canon. It 
was only twenty-three hundred years ago that the father 
of history went gossiping about, telling those stories of 
what he saw. European history is modern. The 
Greeks belong to modern history. Asiatic history is 
ancient. 

The unity of history has generally been overlooked. 
It is what Paul so grandly uttered on Mars ; hill : "God 
hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell 
on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the 
times before appointed, and the bounds of their habita- 
tion : that they should seek the Lord, if haply they 
10 



138 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

might feel after him and find him, though he be not far 
from every one of us." (Acts 17: 26,27.) God 
knew, when he made the world, what he was about to 
do. He had made places for the different nations. 
He made Greece fcr the Greeks and the isles for 
the English; and there is a providence in all these 
things. The unfolding of history is the listening to 
the footsteps of God. In the study of narrow views 
of history we are so completely done up with the self- 
will of man that we lose sight of Gcd. How the work 
of one little man fills our minds ! We need to take a 
survey of all the ages. How small those greatest men 
appear when we see the great work of divine love to 
man ! 

We begin the study of the world when there were 
but, say, about two millions of people; and yet there 
were nations. It is hard fcr us to think of the account 
in Gei esis as being the history of the world; we are so 
apt to think of the masses which now live upon the 
earth. We must think of # it as being shrunk back. We 
need to consider what the world was, then, before we 
read the book of Genesis. It is difficult to do. We 
need, as it were, to put on a new soul, or, rather, 
another soul, that we may be able to go back into the 
past. We must make the transition if we would come 
at it in the right manner. Let us fall back. 

Think of our own country — what it now is and what 
it was at first. And so go on back to the times spoken 
of in the Bible. Thus we may get an idea of a nation 
as it was then. At first, perhaps, it was only a family 
or tribe. But it grows by its own blood, or stock, and 
is settled in its own country, which thus becomes the 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 139 

birthplace of the nation. It is not necessary that there 
should be forty millions of people to make a nation, 
lit makes us think of Carlyle's remark about America, 
" Thirty millions of people, mostly fools. " The impor- 
tance of a nation does not depend upon the number of 
its population, as may be seen by comparing the 
Hebrews with Chinamen. If there was but one zebra 
in the world that family of animals would be in the 
history of the world. The importance of a nation 
depends upon its quality, the force of its spiritual char- 
acter, its mind, and what it is able to do. We may 
trace the great nation back to the tribe, the tribe back 
to the family. Take the Hebrew nation back in that 
way and we find that at first it was all in Abraham. 

The book of Genesis is the oldest record of the world 
we have. Moses was a historian. 

Ancient history is the record of the struggle between 
Shem and Ham; modern history is a record of the 
-struggle between Shem and Japheth. 

The birth of Moses was Semitic; his education was 
Hamitic. His birth and education were part of his 
providential call. 

Genesis begins with genealogy. The first thing to 
know of a nation or of a man is, what has God put 
into his blood ? There is everything in this. A man 
can not understand himself without knowing about his 
grandfather. This is a matter which has been much 
neglected with us. We begin with the book of genera- 
tions. 

There are two great beginnings in the Bible — one in 
•Genesis and one in John. In Genesis, the world 
began; in John, the beginning of God is referred to. 



140 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Genesis contains all the great seed-principles which 
have since been developed into what the world now is. 

All history begins with the family. Marriage is the 
first thing. The history of the world begins with mar- 
riage in Eden. History begins with what we write on 
the middle leaves of our Bibles. We, at present, make 
little account of genealogy, but we shall think more of 
it one of these days. " These are the generations. " 
(Gen. 10 : 1.) We shall soon be looking up our fami- 
lies, for we shall want to know who our grandfathers- 
were. Blood tells in men as well as in horses. 

Let us keep in view the object of Moses in writing. 
At first he gives an account of the whole world. Then 
he narrows down to a particular family — a chosen 
people — whose history begins with Abraham. Of all. 
men who have lived on the earth we would like to know 
more of Jesus. Next, we would like to know more of 
the father of the faithful. Abraham is the father of 
three great religions. The Mahometans think as much 
of him as we do. Before we consider his character in 
particular we must first take a general view of world 
history. 

The flood is a great event which demands our atten- 
tion. Some have difficulty in finding water enough for 
the deluge. It seems as though the words, " the face of 
the whole earth/' (Gen. 8:9) might mean all the known 
inhabited world. It might help some to think that the 
flood may have been partial. We think that the object 
of the flood was to destroy the sinful world of people.. 
Some changes in the condition of the earth in the region 
around the Caspian Sea make some think that the flood 
was confined to a particular part of the world. 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 141 

After the flood history begins again, with the three 
.great divisions of the human family. (Gen. 10.) 
Scholars from Europe coming in contact with the 
ancient civilization of India were astonished to find 
logic older than Aristotle and a language which showed 
itself to be a sister tongue to their own. Differ- 
ences in languages had for a long time been a prob- 
lem. But about two centuries ago the remarkable 
similarities of languages were brought to light, and it 
was seen that all those nations could once understand 
each other. The science of comparative philology has 
-done much toward discovering the unity and brother- 
hood of all mankind. 

The Bible history begins with the three fold division 
■ of languages among men. There were three great 
divisions of the human family, which go out into sev- 
enty nations; and there are three great families of 
tongues. Why three grand • divisions of nations and 
tongues ? To be a three-fold manifestation of the 
divine nature in the world ? Is it in correspondence 
•with the three-fold nature of man — heart, head, and 
hand, as we say? We do not know What it means. 

In the tenth chapter of Genesis we have an account 
of the three great families. How did Moses get this 
account? We think he gathers it together from Noah's 
Bible and Abraham's Bible down through to his own 
time. It was the family record. These writings are 
not generally thought to be edifying, but they are really 
full of deep interest. 

Let us look at some of these names. " Kittim " 
refers to the people of the island of Cyprus. We find 
names here which mean not individuals but peoples, 



142 KEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

or, rather, nations. The term " isles," as it is in> 
Hebrew, means "maritime region." First, however,, 
we should study the heads of the different families, 
Shem, Ham, and Japheth. "Japheth" signifies en- 
largement. He settled in the north, and had a chance- 
to spread out through a great extent. From him came 
the nations of Europe. The Semitic race had the 
inland region. Ham's position was in the south. This- 
tenth chapter of Genesis gives us the names of seventy 
nations. 

The natural way in which things are put in the 
Scriptures is that first which is most important. Shem. 
had the highest characteristics, which were spiritual. 
This is the spiritual law. Men would naturally put the 
first-born first; but God did not so choose. We con- 
sider Ham first because of his order in history. 

The first thing to learn of any people is its geography.. 
Ham occupied the southern— the most fertile parts of 
the earth. The first interest of man was agriculture.. 
They would naturally seek places like the garden of 
Eden ; and there were three places in the earth which 
were like Eden in particular — the land of the Tigris. 
and Euphrates, the Jordan valley, and the valley of the 
Nile. In these regions the rich natural soil did nine 
tenths of the work. But something more than agri- 
culture is necessary for the highest civilization. There: 
must also be commerce, so that nations may have inter- 
course with the world. The steps of progress are from, 
the roving tribe to the settled state of agriculture, and 
from that to intercourse with other nations. A nation 
receives character from all with whom it has inter- 
course. 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 143 

The Hamitic race had all these advantages. They 
had the trade of India, and controlled all the great 
sources of wealth. The trade-winds were in their 
favor, and all the natural advantages of position and 
productions. They had control of the old-world 
commerce, and enjoyed the great opportunities of the 
world. The first seat of civilization was with them. 
But their abominable idolatries and cruel religion 
brought upon them God's war to save civilization to the 
higher spiritual interests of the world. 

The early history of mankind was the history of 
cities. The true country life is a thing of our time. 
Civilization was then confined to the cities, and those 
who lived in cities and in the country, having villas, 
were villians. Our term villian comes from the word 
villa, a village. The history of the Old World is the 
history of cities; and before the time when Europe 
began to be civilized the history of the world was 
almost contained in the history of a few cities — Baby- 
lon, Persepolis, Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon, which 
were practically one. Babylon was first in time, Mem- 
phis next,. then Damascus — which is now four thousand 
years old, — next Jerusalem, and then Alexandria. 

Then we come to Europe, which has two great cities 
of world importance — Rome, the city of imperial 
power, and Antioch, the great center of religious inter- 
est. We must not leave Athens out ; it would be 
leaving out the brain of the forehead. 

Babylon and Rome are too great to be classed with 
any others. They are the two great centers of imperial 
power. . Rome was built 751 B C. The Roman 
empire, west, which had old Rome for its center, ceased 



144 EEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

about 476 A. D., after more than twelve centuries. 
After the reign of the Caesars came the reign of the 
popes, so that it has had influence in history for all 
these centuries of ours. Babylon, which we might fitly 
call the Rome of Asia, was already fifteen hundred 
years old when Nebuchadnezzar spoke those profane 
words which lost him his reason and power. Babylon 
was not built upon a rock. The region in which it was 
situated is alluvial land, and is similar to the valley of 
the Nile. Time has wrought great changes in the face 
of the country there, as also in Egypt. The great city 
was built of brick, and great interest has attached to its 
ruins. The beginning of its history is here in Genesis 
10: 10. Nimrod was the builder. "Babel" is the 
same word as Babylon. We have the name in the 
Greek form instead of the Hebrew. Nimrod was the 
inventor of empire — the Napoleonic idea of the indi- 
vidual government of men by a power contrary to "that 
principle which comes from the bosom of God. 

Let us notice the position of Babylon. The Euphra- 
tes was the great highway of the world from north to 
south. The course of empire was not west at that 
time, but naturally from the high lands down into the 
valleys. 

In this connection we should read what prophecy 
says against Babylon. There is a providential and 
inspired interest in those old ruins. 

" They had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) had 
they for mortar." (Gen. 11 : 3.) Bitumen will burn, 
and so will those old remains of ruins. City building 
in biblical history goes with evil. "God made the 
country, man made the city." The simplicity of life in 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 145 

the country must naturally be favorable to purity if not 
to polite manners. 

The tower of Babel was a monument of ambition and 
pride. They seem to have had the idea that God would 
in some way disseminate men throughout the world ; 
and so Nimrod set up the military idea, which we get 
here for the first time. 

"Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth." 
(Gen. 10: 8.) Here is the beginning of the claim to 
rule by divine right. He was the inventor of the idea 
that might makes right. The history of Babylon is the 
history of military power and false religion. Nimrod 
was a hunter; and hunting was very necessary in that 
time. And that is the way in which military power 
begins. It reminds us of our General Putnam and the 
wolf. Wolf-hunting was necessary for the protection 
of the sheep; and these hunting bands grew to be 
wolves themselves. They soon came to be the enemies 
of the people and ruled over them Then they built 
forts, and lived as the barons of the middle ages, on 
the Rhine. And so Babylon came to be the great seat 
-of empire and the center of false religion. 

We are now prepared to speak of the subject of 
Hamism, — not simply Ham nor the Hamitic race, yet 
both, and more too; for we wish to consider the general 
characteristics of a class of mankind. Babylon was the 
cradle and throne of heathenism. 

In this connection is suggested to us the comparative 
history of religion. There is an idea, particularly now, 
that there is an element of truth in every sincere relig- 
ion. Dr. Dollinger is the first man we know of who 
.has written in that field. The idea is that there has 



146 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

been providential leading in all religions. It is the 
same idea that Paul put forth to the Athenians : " God 
hath made of one blood," etc. (Acts 17: 26.) 

The history of Babylon takes us back, as no other 
history outside the Bible can, into the third century 
before Christ. We are apt to have prejudices against 
ancient history, or, perhaps, rather, against ancient 
races. Our self-conceit is that the English-speaking 
people are the tip-top of the world. This is one of our 
notions. I do not believe it is so. One great advan- 
tage of the study of history is that we are able to com- 
pare ourselves with other?.. We are apt to think that 
Dr. Franklin invented lightning, and we make too 
much of our few American inventions. Letters, which 
we can almost think were an inspired invention, were 
made by a burnt-faced race, the Ethiopian, by whom,, 
also, other great inventions were made. 

"Cush begat Nimrod." (Gen. 10: 8.) "Cush" 
was a people. Except Shem, Ham, and Japheth there 
are no other individual names in this chapter, unless it 
be Nimrod. Those other names designate families or 
tribes. It was their natural way of speaking. We are 
not used to their figurative forms of speech. We must 
not forget that this is the record of the three divisions 
of the people of the ancient world, and that the 
account of the foundation of empire is given incident* 
ally. Nations are natural divisions of people. Nations 
are of God; empire is of the self-will of man. 

Babylon was built in the land of Shinar, and it was a 
mistake of historians w T ho, till of )ate, have thought it 
was built by the Semitic race. It was built by the 
H ami tic race. 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 147 

Now, if we compare the characteristics of the people 
of these three great races, we find that the Hamitic 
race was sensuous, the Japhetic race was intellectual 
and realistic, and the Semitic w T as spiritual. Let us 
bear in mind that sensuousness is not necessarily bad. 
They were sensuous in that they lived in the senses. 
The influences of their climate and other physical con- 
ditions tended to develop them in that direction partic- 
ularly. They naturally came to life early, and were 
forward in all material things. They became familiar 
with a greater number of objects than any other people. 

The powers of empire are those of physical force. 
Nimrod had that; but something else was necessary. 
The soldier might enslave the body, but so long as the 
mind was free the man was free. Education is a nec- 
essary power in holding even dominion over men. The 
priest had greater power and influence than the soldier. 
Man always has and always will have the priest. Now 
Babylon, as the center of false religion, is what makes 
it representative in the Scriptures as the power of dark- 
ness. It is Babylon against Jerusalem. Nimrod was 
the inventor of heathenism. It is impossible to take the 
full force of the first chapters of Genesis without a 
knowledge of what Babylon was in its influence upon 
the world. The religion of Babylon was an astral 
religion — the worship of the stars. The clear atmos- 
phere and impressiveness of the heavens drew them to 
the study of the celestial phenomena. It was the 
natural country for astronomical observation, and the 
tower of Babel was the highest building ever in the 
world, being more than six hundred feet. 

The two great centers of the Hamitic race were 



148 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Babylon and Egypt. The corrupting influence of 
Babylon began in the worship of the heavenly bodies. 
The great modern Babylon was at Rome. The same 
controlling ideas were brought out there. Nimrod and 
Caesar both were deified, and were the demi-gods of 
their times. They ruled by the soldier and the priest. 
And the spirit of the Bible is all there is opposed to 
these powers, and it records the great struggle of God 
against them. 

We choose this word " Hamism " because it contains 
the whole idea and is easy to remember, and any other 
term would be too limited. What we mean by the use 
of such a term is to designate national characteristics, 
as in Hebraism, Hellenism, Romanism, etc. These 
terms are used to designate the particular characteristics 
of races. So we use the term Hamism. 

The ancient world of history had three races, as we 
have seen, and we have our eye still on the tenth chap- 
ter of Genesis. 

The better to understand the conditions and relations 
of those ancient races we will represent them by the 
•different races of Europe which are nearer our own 
times — the four great races which poured into Europe 
when, as it seemed, their appointed time had come, — 
the Greek, Celtic, German, and Sclavonic. They are 
so many streams pouring into the west, and they are all 
different in their characteristics. 

Now, in order to consider the characteristics of any 
particular race we have to compare it with others. For 
instance, to study the great Germanic race we have to 
know something of all the peoples of Europe and North 
America. The influence of race upon race, as Roman 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 149 

upon Celtic, etc., must be considered. We do not find 
the Celtic race pure in any one place, but we find them 
in many p^rts of the world, and they have been modi- 
fied by the influence of other races in every place. So 
it is with the Hafnitic race. There is great difficulty in 
the problem, because they are mixed with all the world, 
and we have to go back four thousand years, and have 
little of them left to guide us. Think of the great 
changes which have been going on all those ages in that 
world of ancient history ! Wave after wave of popula- 
tion has passed over it, and nation after nation has 
struggled for it, won it, and lost it. Think of the great 
changes which have passed over Egypt, one of the 
great centers of Hamism ! And every conquest brought 
blending of population. 

We are trying to catch glimpses of the early nations 
which established civilization. But they are so blended 
with other nations that it becomes a difficult work. Yet 
they were a people who left the most enduring relics 
behind them. They were the monumental people. The 
pyramids of Egypt and the tower of Babel are the 
greatest, most enduring, of any material things ever 
left by any people. Europe has but two great struct- 
ures, the Coliseum, at Rome, and St. Peter's. We do 
not know enough yet to read the records of those great 
structures of Egypt and Babylon, and we have but of 
late discovered the clue to decipher the hieroglyphics. 
The dry climate of the Nile valley is preservative, so 
that even the paint upon those ancient structures is still 
almost perfect. Each one of those structures is a great 
library. It is quite plain that the Hamites were the 
inventors of letters, and the history of the alphabet is 



150 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

almost the history of the world. Letters come to us 
through Cadmus, who was an eastern man, and from 
Phenician and Canaanite. We trace him back to the 
tenth chapter of Genesis.* And so there are many 
questions of interest relating to the Hafmitic race — how 
came they to know so much science? etc. It has been 
said that the modern world did not know enough to 
read the epitaph of the ancient world. 

The Bible presents these races always in their relig- 
ious character and their influence upon the world. It 
is Shem against Ham. Their influence upon the world 
in its spiritual life is the great subject. Ham has 
written his record with a pen of iron, upon stone, 
forever. 

The Flood. Was it universal, or only over the 
then known world? I think that the sacred writer 
does not necessarily imply that any more than a partic- 
ular locality was submerged. As the cities of the plain 
were destroyed by means -of natural causes, so the 
flood, whatever it might have been in its extent, may 
have been caused, also. Whether or not it extended 
over all the earth, it was universal to the known world. 
If the scientific man had stood back, as did Abraham, 
to witness the destruction of the cities of the plain, he 
would have called it a volcanic eruption. So there 
may be such natural causes, or, rather, means, already 
existing that caused the flood. 

The cradle of mankind, after the flood, was the same 
region in which the garden of Eden is supposed to 



* The historical accuracy of this statement is subject to at least grave 
doubt.— Ed. 



TITE STOBY OF THE WORLD, 151 

liave been located. The causes of emigration are 
natural and various. There is an instinct planted in 
man which prompts him to migrate. There seems to 
be a providential class of rovers and explorers. About 
so many boys will, in spite of all efforts, run away and 
;go to sea. The history of the growth, separation, and 
settlement of Abraham and Lot illustrates this poim in 
some particulars. It became necessary for them to go 
-different ways, and divide the land between them. 

A study of the structure and plan of the land which 
was the scope, range, and cradle of civilization will also 
help us to understand the course of history. 

Suppose the home to be on the high lands of Arme- 
nia • the natural course of progress would be down into 
the river valleys. This seems to have been the fact in 
the history of the world. We find the great centers of 
ancient civilization in the valleys of the Nile and 
Euphrates. 

There is a beautiful adaptation of the land for the 
home of the human family. It seems lo have been 
planned and designed for its very purpose. The Lord 
knew why he wanted those mountain-walls and valleys 
where they are. He knew what he wanted the Medi- 
terranean Sea for. 

There are good reasons why we have no history of 
those earliest times of the settlement of the world. The 
first settlers of the country did not go to write diaries. 

Genealogy is the first beginning of history. It is 
always the foundation of history. In profane history 
we do not get even that How vague is the first pro- 
fane history! Here the Bible comes to our aid, as it 
does in every real emergency. 



152 KEA'. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Our first great necessity is that of knowing the blood 
of the three great races who settled the world. This- 
we get only in the Bible. The blood relations of races< 
is a necessary study in history. Shem and Ham settled 
together, and that was the cause of the great struggle- 
between them. 

There were four branches, or nations, from Ham.. 
First, the Cushites, or Ethiopians. At first they occu- 
pied all the regions of Arabia and south countries in 
general, from India to the valley of the Nile. Later, 
they were almost wholly confined to the center of 
Africa. The two great centers of the Hamite people 
were the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile. 

The second branch was Mizraim, the two Egypts. 

The third was Phut, of whom little is known. He 
has no history. He was probably settled in northern 
Africa. 

Canaan, the fourth, we all know. 

It is difficult to tell just where the sons of Cush were 
located. We find something of them in Arabia. 

The final interest of Ham centers upon Canaan. 
Was the curse upon him, by his father, said in a fit of 
anger, or was it as a prophet that he spoke ? We think 
he was speaking as a prophet. There was to be no 
future to Ham. It was the natural result of his mani- 
fest characteristics. His sensual nature would, in future 
generations, come to that. Noah saw what there was 
in his nature. The curse was not on Canaan himself, 
which would have indicated his anger, but upon his 
posterity. Ham went down stream. His nature was- 
to go with gravitation. He was sensuous, and went to 
the warm country, which his nature loved. 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 153 

The results of such characteristics are well known to 
us. The same results will come to any individual who 
follows in the natural line of the same characteristics. 
It is the principle of choice with us all, between our 
sensuous nature and present ease and gratification and 
the future good of those who shall be born of us The 
sensuous man lives for the present. The true and spir- 
itual nobility of life is in living for posterity. 

The land of Canaan was the keystone of the Hamitic 
empire, and the loss of it was a great blow to the power 
of Hamism ; for the possession of this land gave control 
of the great lines of travel and commerce between the 
great centers and routes of trade on the Nile and 
Euphrates. The land of Can am was the bridge over 
which the world of travel and commerce had to pass, 
and whoever held the bridge could make the world pay 
tribute, as Solomon did in his splendid reign. 

We take a glance at Japheth. The name signifies 
increase, or widely extending. This race spread out 
through Europe. They were a colonizing people. Not 
so the Semitic race, who were a stay-at-home people. 
Ham was also a colonizing race. 

It is well to notice the characteristics of the lands 
they inhabit. All lands narrow toward the south and 
widen toward the north. It is also interesting to trace 
the course of progress of the different races. Japheth 
diverges, Ham converges, and Shem is concentrated. 
We see this in the prophecy concerning them, and can 
verify it in the fulfillment : " God shall enlarge Japheth, 
arid he shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan 
shall be his servant." (Gen. 9: 27.) Notice now 
what parts of the earth each possesses. Japheth has 
11 



154 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

been enlarged. His territory has been enlarged and 
his population is the greatest of all. We can plainly 
see the influence of the blessing of God upon a people. 
The nations of Christendom are most populous. The 
influence of spiritual conditions upon the physical 
nature may be seen. We have already referred to the 
influence of climate upon character. Ham had an 
unfavorable position in the world as regards virtue. 
Cold and physical virtue go together. The loss of 
natural chastity is the loss of character and influence. 

The Japhetic race has been a populating race. Every 
stage of progress north, man has to fight with nature. 
This great struggle gives him character. Every stage 
of progress south makes it easier to live. The north 
races have had to fight nature. In order to subdue 
nature man has to study nature. This leads to the 
development of physical science. Science, then, was 
a necessary result of the enlargement of Japheth. The 
Japhetic people have been the great road-builders of the 
world, and, indeed, they have done all the great works 
of civilization. 

We simply mention the sons of Japheth here, Gomer, 
the great ancestor of the nations of Europe in general, 
Magog, the progenitor of the Sclavonic tribes of the 
north and east of Europe, and Madai, from whom 
descended the Medes. 

Javan was the father of the Greeks, the most con- 
spicuous of the gentile nations. In Daniel it is desig- 
nated Grecia. (Daniel 8: 21.) It is also differently 
rendered. If it had been rendered the same in all 
places it would have helped us to understand its sig- 
nification. This son of Japheth is not the most widely 



THE STORY OF THE WORLD. 155 

spread in geographical extent, for he is confined to the 
coast land. 

We think that Moses finds this record in the family 
of Abraham. It was written before Moses, who puts it 
in this form. He got it from good authority. Moses 
compiles this book of Genesis. We might say it was 
the Bible of Abraham. Noah wrote part of it. 

The branch of Eber was an inland people. The 
waters they knew were only the Dead Sea, the Sea of 
Galilee, the river Jordan, and the Red Sea. The great 
sea on the west was, of course, visible from some parts 
of the land. It was also known to them by connection 
with the Tyrians. Little was known of the sea when 
Genesis was written. The peculiarity of the great sea, 
that it was irregular and full of islands, was known to 
them, for "the isles of the sea" are often spoken of. 
The great amount of coast land in Europe gives great 
advantage to its people. (In this connection read 
Guiot's " Earth and Man.") Greece is the most mari- 
time portion of Europe. Greece was Europe in minia- 
.ture. Magog is the great inland race, and Javan is 
pre-eminently the maritime race. Javan was the Greek 
race which occupied western Asia Minor, the Greek 
mainland, part of Italy, France, etc. 

Tubal and Meshech are mentioned as neighboring 
and kindred tribes, and Tiras is supposed to refer to 
ancient Thrace. 

" Japheth shall dwell in the tents of Shem." They 
were to come into unity by means of the Bible religion. 
They unite together for the good of the world. 



Marriage and Divorce-. 



Matthew 19:3; Mark 10 : 2. The circumstances* 
of the occasion were as follows : John the Baptist was 
in the region of Herod, who had unlawfully married his 
brother Philip's wife ; and the question might have had 
some object beyond the fact of interest to the Pharisees. 
They did not care anything about the gieat principle of 
marriage, for, strict as they were in respect to the law, 
they were lax in their social and moral lives. They 
held a doctrine of divorce equivalent to that of our 
modern free-lovers. But there were two parties in this- 
matter. The two leaders were Hillel and Shamai. 

The law of divorce which they had in mind was that 
recorded in Deuteronomy 24. In order to understand 
this we must think of the condition of the world in that 
day. Legislation must not be too far in advance of the 
ideal of the people. The object of this law, as Christ 
declares, was : " Moses, because of the hardness of 
your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives ; but 
from the beginning it was not so." 

There was an appearance of great honor to him in 
this question. "Hillel says we may, and Shamai says- 
we may not; and you decide it for us." But they 
found no vanity in him. Why did they not go to God ? 
Moses did not command, but gave permission. Why 



MAKKIAGFE AND DIVORCE. 157 

mot go hack to the original idea? True, it is appeal 
from scripture to scripture; but it is from permissive 
scripture to that which can not be misunderstood. Go 
to the authority from which there is no appeal. "He 
answered and said unto them, Have ye not read that he 
which made them at the beginning made them male 
•and female? And they twain shall be one flesh." This 
•is the account of the creation of man. 

As a man may not cut of! his hand, or any member, 
except the whole body be injured,. so a man may not put 
away his wife, nor the wife the husband, for any other 
reason except for that which breaks marriage. 

Souls are sexual as well as bodies, we think. The 
great object of marriage is the multiplication of souls. 
God could have increased by creation. There was 
enough clay and power of Spirit, but there would have 
been a great loss of hereditary law, which is the great 
possibility of progress. One generation may be born 
to all the progress of another, as well as to the sin and 
its terrible results. He who sins against the sexual 
relation not only injures himself but all the future of 
the human race. 

"What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
onan put asunder." Marriage is a yoke, in the very 
language of scripture. They were false in saying it was 
a command. Moses did permit it, because he had to 
begin with the people where they were. He does not 
institute any such thing, but allows that which was in 
existence. It was permitting a less evil to prevent a 
greater. But Christ comes to fulfill, and he grants no 
indulgences. The ax is laid to the root of the tree. 
When they plead Moses, Christ refers them back to 



158 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG.. 

what was when God made it. Mount Sinai was a step- 
up as regards man's fallen state, but it was a step down 
to meet man as regards what was in the beginning. 

The laws of Moses were of necessity, to a certain 
extent, expedient. He did give indulgences, as the 
Pope does. But as we get light we ought to look back 
to the beginning, " In the beginning it was not so." 

Christ goes back to innocency. That is his begin- 
ning point. And Christ gives what Moses could not, 
the spirit of holiness. 

The spiritual man sees some things that the natural- 
man does not. A Christian can not break marriage 
except for the reason that Christ gives. The Christian 
that does it should be turned out of church. The 
Christian man has a cross to bear. 

The question of marriage is one of great significance 
and a subject of great forethought and earnest prayer. 
It may require great self-denial for a man and a woman 
to live together, and why not let them go, it is said.. 
Because the good of society and of posterity will be 
hurt by it. The state must protect society and look 
to the good of posterity. The present generation is 
all potent as regards a generation to come. It is the 
supreme duty of the present to do what will be for the 
greatest good of the future. The keystone of the arch 
of human society is the family. 

The old Roman family was noble, next to the Chris- 
tian, but in the later Roman history how sadly it was 
changed. The women ceased to desire children and 
the abortionist came to prominence, and the state went 
to pieces. So it was in Greece. 

Christianity throws a heavenly light around the family. 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 159 

Christ's first miracle was wrought at the marriage feast. 
The first blessing of God was upon the family. There 
will be no love of children where the marriage relation 
is not respected. When marriage ceases to be sacred 
in the eyes of men, then the maternal and paternal feel- 
ings are weak. And such influences will deteriorate the 
character of the rising generation. It soon becomes a 
blasting blight upon society. The state will be weak. 
humanity will be weak, and the state will go to ruin. 

For all these reasons Christ permits divorce for only 
one cause, and it is that which makes a woman unfit to 
be a mother. 

If they can not live congenially let them bear with 
each other. If they can not live in the same room let 
them have separate rooms. 

Mark 10: 12 adds the point of divorce on the 
woman's part, "And if a woman shall put away her 
husband, and be married to another, she committeth 
adultery." This was written for the Romans and was 
very pat. The Roman law in this has become the law 
of Christendom. 

This same question is also referred to in Luke 16 : 18. 
Herod's divorce made it the social question of the day. 
John the Baptist lost his head by too free speaking on 
the subject. 

Let us 'go back to Adam's prophecy on marriage : 
lt For this cause shall a man leave father and mother 
and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one 
flesh." (Genesis 2; 24.) 

Marriage is the oldest institution, — older than the fall. 
Unbelief seeks to undermine the spiritual family — the 
church in Christ and the divinely natural institution 



160 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

of the family. They go together. If the family falls, 
so must the church. That which breaks marriage may 
break the marriage relation, and that only. 

" His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man 
be so with his wife, it is not good to marry." (Matt. 
19: 10.) 

If it be so strict it is not best to marry. But mar- 
riage pre-supposes love. Without love it is not true 
marriage. 

Now, there are two kinds of love, both of God, — the 
natural love of innocence, and the spiritual love of God. 

Marriage is a natural love, and may be pure though 
neither are Christians. Marriage is a parable of God. 
No man who truly loves a woman can seek to seduce 
her, nor can he have any such thought. Marriage is 
the sacrament of human nature. It is used to represent 
Christ's relations to the church. It is a terrible thing 
to marry without love, and it is a terrible sin. It is sin 
against natural affections. Marriage may be a matter 
of duty, and that sanctifies it. Such may be the case 
in second marriages. First love may have a nature of 
its own. 

The disciples probably thought of the great number 
of unhappy marriages. ''But he said unto them, All 
men can not receive this saying, save they to whom it 
is given." 

To the spiritual man, marriage may be a spiritual 
relation ; to the natural man it may be only a per- 
missible whoredom. Such have not the spiritual dis- 
cernment. 

Then he gives three classes who can not receive it. 
"Eunuchs/' Eu, well, fine, clear; nous, mind; 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 161 

ekine, to have. To have the mind clear and well. It 
is supposed to give peculiar clearness to the mind. 
It probably does in some points, but there is loss of 
force. Some were born so, and they made some 
eunuchs to take care of the women in harems, and 
others to make them fit for peculiar service. We think 
that Daniel and his companions were eunuchs. There 
are many who ought not to marry and it is not the duty 
of all. Some are not physically fit. They owe a duty 
to posterity. There are congenital bars to marriage. 
The Jews were forbidden to make men eunuchs. Such 
were not admitted to the altars of God. Origen, presi- 
dent of the Alexandrian school, did it for the sake of 
his duty. "He that is able to receive it, let him 
receive it." 

There is a logical connection in Christ's thoughts. 
They think of marriage as a great lottery, as it is often 
said. Christ answers that all can not receive this say- 
ing. God gave the wife, and it is a matter in his hands., 
God knows what a man needs. "The hairs of our 
heads are all numbered." A man should seek God's 
guidance in this. See how it was in the case of the 
patriarchs. The courtship of father Isaac was left to a 
wise man, and he would not take a step without God's 
guidance. The story of courtship is told over and over 
in the Scriptures, because it is a subject of God's provi- 
dence. See the beautiful story of Ruth. There is a 
fullness of social life brought to view in the Bible. 
These social questions are fitting subjects for preaching. 
The Sciiptures do teach that " he who findeth a good 
wife findeth a good." Seek and ye shall find. Not in 
your own self-will, but with a consecrated will. 



162 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG - . 

There is a leading providence and a restraining provi- 
dence. It is a great step to take. Put your hand in 
God's and follow. They who will look to the Father it 
shall be given to them. I do believe that God has a 
special providence over marriage. According to the 
census of all countries there are about equal numbers 
of males and females. There is a providence in it. 
But there are different classes who can not receive 
marriage. 

Paul was not a crusty old bachelor but a prudent m:m, 
considering the state of society, and with great self- 
denial. He was a warm-hearted man, and how the 
women flocked about him as his helpers. He made 
himself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake. 
Not physically but spiritually. His rule against women 
speaking in public was not a general one, but the fact 
was that the Greek companions of the philosophers, 
the women who spoke in public were all harlots. The 
women and daughters were not educated and no chaste 
wife could speak in public. There were and there are 
occasions in the work of the Lord in which it is not 
prudent to marry. Paul said, " Let your women keep 
silence in the church." He spoke to the gentiles, 
"I suffer not a woman to teach." But they might 
prophesy, and did. He did not say either of these 
things to the Jews. 

All are not to be married. Girls should not be 
brought up with that idea. Woman is not a mere pen- 
dant to man. We think that the women perceived 
Christ's meaning and understood him more fully than 
the disciples, and they glanced through to the conclu- 
sion, and felt that that made marriage sacred and. that 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 163 

it was for the good of their children. And so they 
bring the little children to Jesus that he might bless 
them. Women think more of marriage and more 
sacredly than men. There are great fountains of love 
sealed up in the natural affections. The first-born 
babe makes many a mother find Bethlehem. It is the 
gift of religious life with some. The love of Jesus for 
men and the love of mothers seem to be akin. 



THE DEVIL, 



The sense of evil grows upon us. It is a terrible 
thing, and a mystery in its nature. It also concerns 
that part of our nature of which we know least. No 
one who has a superficial sense of it is fit to deal with 
it. It has to do with our wills, and the will is the most 
difficult subject of metaphysics. Having to do with 
our wills, evil directly affects our characters. The will 
is the seat of sin in us. 

Justice has been defined as the will to give unto 
every one that which is his own. The will is the man. 
If the man has a good will he is a good man. 

The mystery of the will is the mystery of life. If 
man is spirit the will must be spirit. Will must be at 
the very seat of life. 

What is the law of the will? W T e can observe the 
influence of will upon other wills through the physical 
means; but there is an inside to it. If the will is spirit 
it must be in contact with the great world of spirits. 
On the inside, spirit touches spirit. We can not under- 
stand the essence of spirit while in the state of sub- 
stance. In the essential state we may. The most we 
can do is to consider relations. The law of relations 
between spirit and spirit is that of the will to other wills. 
There are powers which influence us and subjects upon 



THE DEVIL. 165 

which we work by influence. Men have mutual influ- 
ence upon each other. Our influence upon the great 
Spirit of God is that expressed by the term prayer. We 
know so little about that that we can hardly speak. In 
some way we move upon his pity. But his will is 
absolute and self-determined. The character of our 
will is that of choice between this and that. Not so of 
God's will. Go back to the time when there was 
nothing; what was there to choose as between one 
thing and another. God is all. 

Then comes the great question of good and evil. 
Are they both eternal? That was the Persian idea. 
What do the Scriptures say about it ? 

Personality is the secret principle of the Bible. The 
universe is full of persons. There are no abstractions 
in it. There are two sides to our nature : one, which 
relates us to the personal ; another, by which we may 
be abstract. We may shut one eye of our being, and 
thus deny the practical and personal. But an abstrac- 
tion is nothing. It is all in the mind. There is nothing 
but persons in the universe, — no will without person; 
no love without person; no truth, then, without person. 
Well, then, is evil a person ? the evil one a personal 
will ? We must go to the testimony of God. . 

It would make some things easy if we could assume 
that evil is eternal. But it would be a fearful thing ! 
One thing is plain, that evil is personified in the Bible. 
There is no personification so strong in all books as in 
the Bible. Does it mean that there is a personal will 
which leads our wills captive to his will ? Names in the 
Scriptures are used as designating character. All these 
names of evil are either names of a person or are the 



166 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

personification of evil. The principal New Testament 
name is "Ho Diabetes" the devil. In the Old Testa- 
ment it is Satan. This term is applied to man, but 
without the article. With the article it also refers us to 
the world of spirit. 

The subject of evil is more plainly seen in the New 
Testament than in the Old. The revelation of good 
and evil go together. The more we see of one the 
.more of the other comes to light. It is difficult to 
determine whether the idea of personal evil is thought 
of or not. 

The first idea we have is that of the serpent in Eden. 
We get but little light as we go on through many parts 
of the Old Testament. Some say it is all poetry. But 
like many other things, it is brought more to light in 
the New Testament. 

We should do well to trace the use of the terms 
•" devil" and "Satan." "Satan" has a Greek form 
and a Hebrew. Six times it is used as a verb, signify- 
ing " to resist." The noun occurs twenty-four times in 
the Old Testament and thirty-four times in the New 
Testament. "Satan," "an adversary." In some 
cases in the historical books and psalms it is used with- 
out the article. 

In such cases we do not think they had any such 
idea of Satan as that we have. Most of the instances 
are in Job, and there we find the article used. "The 
adversary." Some say this is poetry. So it is, but 
that does not affect our purpose. He is not a mere 
man. He is represented as going up and down the 
earth, etc. "Does Job serve God for naught?" He 
begins by a fling of calumny. Here we see the charac- 



THE DEVIL. 167 

ter of Diabolos. If it is poetry, it represents a scene 
that did not take place among men. It was in the 
world of spirit. The next scene is upon earth. This 
is the point that the writer conceives an evil adversary 
who has power to do all these things spoken of. It is 
a greater power than mortal man. That it is poetic 
conception is no objection. 

Zechariah 3 Here, in a vision, the prophet is made 
to see the high-priest standing in the presence of the 
€vil one, the patron of heathenism and founder of false 
religion, who comes in at the crisis and slanders and 
resists the good, and Jehovah rebukes him. If we 
knew when this book of Job was written it would throw 
light upon this subject. If it was written in the time 
of the Persians, it may be that the idea of the evil one 
came through them. Some think it was written in the 
time of Moses. Written whenever it was, our work of 
interpretation is to ascertain what they would under- 
stand, and not what we would understand. We want 
to understand it as they for whom it was written would 
understand it. The light of the Old Testament on this 
subject is unsatisfactory. It is merely tantalizing. In 
the New Testament it is more clear. 

Heathenism in its last kick sought to teach men how 
to purify and sanctify the spiritual nature. (Rom. 
16 : 20; I. Cor. 5: 5.) " Satan himself is transformed 
into an angel of light." (II. Cor. 11: 14.) Is this 
the origin of the new Platonism ? We think this is 
what Paul had his eye upon. Heathenism in its last 
state practiced terrible austerities. Satan is always an 
imitator. The only things original with him are malig- 



168 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

nity and falsehood. In his last state he will imitate the 
righteousness of God. 

"The mystery of iniquity doth already work * * 
* until he be taken out of the way." (II. Thess. 
2; 7, 8.) The heathenism of Rome was the great 
enemy of Christ, and he speaks of the fate of the 
Roman empire. Heathenism was full of signs, won- 
ders, and miracles. Full of lying wonders, as Paul 
would say. This passage is applied by some to the 
Roman Catholic Church; or, rather, we would say, to 
the old spirit of Romanism. 

When the Greeks and Romans became Christians 
they retained their natural characteristics as peoples. 
Truth and beauty with the Greeks, social unity with 
the Romans. The Greek was speculative, the Roman 
practical. The Greek saw Christ as a philosopher, the 
Roman more as a king. When Christianity came to 
Rome it found an old and long-established civilization. 
It preserved much of that civilization as it was. Much 
that Romanism now has was ancient. Much of their 
service and ceremony is ancient. The transition period 
from the true Spirit of Christ was the change of the 
sword of the Spirit for the sword of physical power. 
Rome passed into military form. This was her fall 
from the true Spirit of Christ's kingdom. Jesuitism 
is a complete military order. Rome brought all the 
heathenism of the world into subjection to, and alliance 
with, itself. The Romanism of to-day stands responsi- 
ble for the large body of signs, miracles, and lying 
wonders. This term "lying wonders'' applies well 
to them. 

Satan sought to seduce Christ in the temptation. He 



THE DEVIL. 169 

could not do that and so he tried to kill him, and in that 
he succeeded. Then he sought to seduce the church. 
But the simplicity of the truth and guidance of the Holy 
Spirit were too much for him. So he sought to destroy 
the church. His last resort is to transform himself into' 
an angel of light. He will join the church if in it he 
can be pre-eminent. But the Catholic Church has had 
a glorious history and has done a great work. 

We should distinguish between the papacy and the 
Catholic Church. The coming of the Satan appears- 
in the papacy. We ought not to be ignorant of his- 
devices. The way to study the subject is to go to the 
book of God, even though by it we have first to master 
our prejudices. " Ho Diabolos" It is a subject upon 
which there is little progress. It does not come out 
into clear view. Yet we may learn enough to put us 
upon our guard. There are both angels of God and of 
the devil. But this leads us to the subject of the angelic 
nature. 

" Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 
4 : 7.) We could not tell by this passage whether James 
spoke of a person or personified evil in us. 

"The devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking 
whom he may devour." (I. Peter 5:8.) The roar 
of the lion is to terrify his prey. Satan makes men 
believe that their sins are too great to be forgiven. 

"The devil sinneth from the beginning." (I. John 
3:8.) He has a deliberate intention of evil. A man. 
who has the Spirit of God can not deliberately sin.. 
He may fall. 

"Michael the archangel, when contending with the 
devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not 

12 



170 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The 
Lord rebuke thee." (Jude 9.) This is a clear passage, 
though we do not know where to find the fact men- 
tioned. 

The book of Revelation has several passages touch- 
ing this matter, but this book is different in style from 
the others. 

Eschatology, the last division of theology, is the 
science of last things. Little is known on the subject. 
No council has dogmatised on it though they have on 
every other. It deals with the promises and hopes of 
the gospel. 

Now things to be hoped for may be indefinite, but 
matters of duty must be plain. So we find it in the 
Bible. The plainness of the law is proverbial. There 
is no figurative language in it. In that part of the Bible 
in which history or matters of fact and duty are set 
forth all is plain and clear. But the transcendent char- 
acter of Revelation gives us language of indefiniteness. 
John is the theologian who takes us into deep things at 
once. Paul uses plain language but deals with things 
profound. 

Revelation is not ordinary history. Neither is it a 
book of doctrine. It is what its name implies : an 
uncovering and bringing to light. The book has two 
parts. First, the seven epistles to the churches ; and 
after the third chapter there is hardly a word that is not 
figurative, and its figures are those of the prophets. It 
is a panorama of the course and experiences of the 
church and the last part of the book deals with escha- 
tology. It seems to bring out the resurrection and 
future life. It laps over back to the first chapters of 



THE DEVIL. 171 

Genesis and shows us the Eden of our unfallen state. 
Thus the sixty-six books make a completed circle. We 
see Eden as it might have been if man had not fallen. 
It had become a city full of perfected society. We 
should not look for doctrine in Revelation if we had 
not found it in other parts of the Bible. We should 
expect that the term "Diabetics" would be used in a 
figure here. 

Revelation 12. This is a vision of things to come 
upon the church. Earth is put for secular things, and 
heaven for things ecclesiastical. Some take it as literal. 
The manner of interpretation is the question here, I 
think that John saw a great portend of things in the 
.religious world. The woman is the church of Christ; 
the dragon represents heathenism. Heathenism was 
cast out of the religious world. It lost hold upon the 
minds of men, and ceased to have power over the con- 
victions of the people. We may say that these things 
are the means by which the devil works. The over- 
throw of the outward shows forth the overthrow of the 
spirit. 

The Battle. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that 
-old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound 
him," etc. (Rev. 20.) Christ has then full power in 
the world and is " King of kings, and Lord of lords. " 
We think that the weight of authority is on the side that 
Christ taught there was a personal devil. Personality 
-does not imply flesh but will, powers to act through, 
.means, and ways of manifestation. 



DEMDNS', 



II. Peter 2:4; Jude 6. We are taught all the way- 
through the word of God that there is a world of spirits. 
It is implied that there is a unity between the spiritual 
world and the material. Otherwise how could Christ 
be mediator? We are dealing with questions we know 
little about; but here are hints. Christ's kingdom com- 
prises not only good men but all the holy angels. 
There must be communication between the two parts of 
his kingdom. Death is nothing to Christ. He ha& 
abolished it. It is not an obstacle even. The com- 
munion of the kingdom of Christ is independent of 
death. This part is clear. But what of those spirits, 
who go to the dark places ? What of the fellowship of 
those ? There are many here with whom we would not 
care to have fellowship. Their influence would be bad.. 
But when released from physical conditions, what then ? 
There would then be no physical restraint. Does the 
Lord Jesus rule the hells, as Swedenborg teaches ? 
Has he authority over the different societies of evil ? 
We may think that there are laws of association among 
the evil as well as among the good. 

Some of the spirits, more sensual than others, seek to* 
find conditions of flesh such as they most like. Can 
they come back and possess men's bodies ? It seems 



DEMONS. 173 

in one case (Mark 5) as though a whole society of evil 
spirits were trying to possess the nervous system of one 
man. And they did not want to go into the disem- 
bodied state — the abyss is darkness. They desired 
rather to go into the swine, where they could still eat 
and drink and be in fleshly conditions. The Jews lost 
their swine, the devils lost their chance, and the swine 
lost their lives. There seems to be justice in it all 
round. The swine could not stand it. There seems to 
be a funny side to it, but we must tread this ground 
with reverence. We must put off the shoes of our 
preconceived opinions and come to the Lord with 
humble simplicity to see what he will give us. The 
poor man to whom we have referred seems to have had 
two sets of consciousness. Sometimes he speaks out of 
his own consciousness, and again the evil spirits speak 
through him. Let us follow up this subject. 

The age in which Jesus came was the culminating 
age of evil. But the armies of evil forces are at work 
still. People should be careful how they deal with 
these unseen forces. 

Our subject is Daimon (demon) or Daimonion. It 
will be well for us to study the use of these words in 
the Septuagint and the Hebrew words of the same 
meaning. We should also notice the use of the same 
words by the ancient Greeks. 

There is a difference between Daimon and Diabolos, 
and they should not have been represented by the same 
word in English. Daimon should not be translated 
" devil" but " demon." Ho Diabolos, the devil, in the 
plural, "slanderers." 

Matthew 10 : 8. A part of Christ's commission to 



174 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG... 

his apostles was the authority to "cast out devils."' 
This commission was given before Christ had all power 
on earth. It was while he was but yet Lord of the 
Jews. He gave a commission as far as his power 
extended. Afterward he gave a greater one. First, 
they went to preach to the Jews only ; afterward he 
said, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel 
to every creature." 

"By whom do your children cast them out?" (Matt. 
12: 27.) The children of the Pharisees did cast out 
demons. In the name of Jehovah, demons were cast 
out, as afterward the name of Jesus was the power by 
which it was done. 

There were demons in the religion of the Greeks 
and other heathens. " They sacrifice to devils." (I. 
Cor. 10: 20, 21.) 

Rome made provision for the gods of every people 
she conquered, and thus became a city of demons. 
(Rev. 9: 20.) 

The demoniac influence is the holy ghost of heathen- 
ism. That was the inspiration which carried them 
beyond themselves. 

The seat of heathenism was in the Euphrates region. 
"The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great 
river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up.. 
And I saw three unclean spirits." (Rev. 16: 12-14.),, 
Heathenism lost its power. The influence of its teach- 
ings and its tyranny were done away. 

The three unclean spirits represent three kinds of. 
evil influence. In the study of this subject will come 
the expression "unclean spirits" — "pneumata aka- 
tharta." 



DEMONS. 175 

"I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." 
(Luke 10 : 18.) Satan is the lord of the demons. But 
Christ gives control over all the power of the enemy. 
After Christ was risen all power in earth and heaven 
was given him, and he was then Lord of all. He 
stepped into Adam's place. 

"Them which were vexed with unclean spirits." 
(Acts 5 : 16.) And die apostles healed them. These 
are strange things to us, and it is difficult for us to real- 
ize because the power of Jesus in Christianity has been 
so complete. We are for the most part delivered from 
devils. We believe too little respecting the world of 
evil. 

Casting out unclean spirits were among Christ's 
greatest cures. There are four particular cases. (Mark 
1 : 23.) En pneumah akatharti ; in an unclean spirit. 
As God spake in the prophets, and God spake in his 
Son. There is a more intimate relationship than com- ' 
panicnship. Here there was one spirit in another spirit, 
as one gas may be in another. You can take a pint of 
oxygen and put a pint of nitrogen into it. 

" Ea" is an exclamation of pain and terror, we 
think. The spirits knew Jesus and cried out. But he 
would not suffer the testimony of the infernal. It 
would not have had a good influence. Christ did not 
come to repeat the terror of Sinai. He came with the 
love of the Father, and he did not want the influence 
of the terrors of the lost. (Mark 3 : 11 ; 3:2; 7 : 25.) 
Mark, writing for Romans, has much to say about 
demons because he was dealing with heathens. ( Mark 
9 : 25 ) Here is perfect faith speaking to weak faith. 
Faith gives the soul power over evil. This is an 



176 BEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

example of faith-cure. There are different kinds of 
evil spirits. "This kind can come forth by nothing 
but by prayer and fasting." Prayer concentrates the 
powers of the spirit, and fasting leaves all quiescent. 

Thus far we have learned that there are several kinds 
of evil spirits. What particular kind of spirit was it 
that the disciples could not cast out? It seems as 
though there was an idea in the fact that it had power 
to lay hold upon childhood. Children are spoken of in 
the gospel as being under special protection. Here is 
an evil spirit having power to force back guardian 
angels and take possession of the body. Yet it might 
have been a boy who had injured himself by lust or 
may have inherited it. But however it may be, this 
kind of evil spirits had power to lay hold upon child- 
hood. We know little about it in this part of the 
world. 

"There went virtue out of him and healed them 
all." (Luke 6 : 18.) Christ went to God for the sup- 
ply of that healing power. May not any Christian do 
so ? It took the touch of faith to receive that power, 
as in case of the woman having an issue. 

Under this head is mention of "them who are 
•crowded with unclean spirits." " Okloumenoiy There 
seems to have been a whole school of devils upon 
them. We may think that some spirits take possession 
of some parts of the man and others of other parts. 

If we could realize that there is a world of evil forces 
it would give, us greater power in the work. The good 
that rules is first with us and it is the fashion to dwell 
upon that. These evil forces are incidently spoken 
of in the Bible and this leads many into doubt as to 



DEMOXS. 177 

whether it is the poetry of language or a reality. 
No answer to the great question of evil, Not only 
■ 4t great is the mystery of godliness," but great is the 
mystery of iniquity. 

There is reason why we can not understand it: The 
imagination and affections are deeper than the intellect. 
The heart can feel a great good or evil which the mind 
can not understand. 

Positive preaching must be material that it may appeal 
to the senses. In the preaching of terror we should not 
go beyond scripture. The fear of evil is good and leads 
to salvation. 

The heathen world believed in the reality of the 
world of evil. How much of it was deception we may 
well ask. Evil is true to its own nature. It embodies 
itself in falsehood. It may be all real and yet false. 
Heathenism is full of deception. How do you know ? 
That is the poser. I do not know by experience, but 
by faith. 

Every man must study these things for himself. We 
think that Christ meant to give the influence of his 
experience to show that the world of evil spirits was 
real. We can not think that he did not know, and we 
can not think that he would allow his disciples to be- 
lieve such a falsehood. 

What is insanity? We think no one can answer it. 
It may be that the insane man is one who loses his right 
relations to the universe of God. He has become 
subverted from the truth and gone over into the great 
world of evil. 

How shall we preach about these things? We may 
he called to do it. We are watchmen on the walls and 



178 KEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

we are to study the spiritual conditions of the people. - 
We are to look ahead and see what the results of things 
will be, even to coming generations. The preacher is 
to hold up Christ so that the people will always have 
faith in him in all things. What does the community 
need? Study the influences which come to the people. 
We are in the midst of great changes. This is the great 
period of revolution which had its principles in the 
reformation and its beginning in the French revolution. 

Individual responsibility to God is the great principle. 
We can not go back and we have no guide in the past. 
But there is God. He has said that the world shall be 
shaken and the man of faith in God is the only one who 
can stand. The Bible is the foundation and this is 
what every one needs to study. There is danger of 
becoming superstitious in studying this subject. There 
are fearful things about it and fear is the mother of 
superstition. Notice this fact, that the demons did not 
do humane work. 

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter 
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." (I.Tim. 4: 1.) 

" The devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2 : 
19.) They had faith in God but no trust in him; and 
faith without works is dead. The Jews had faith but no 
heart in the matter. The demons seem to have been a 
reality to James,. 



False Frnphscy. 



Every time God raises up some great teacher, false 
ones soon arise. Ail true prophecy from God has this 
spirit and substance : " The obedient shall live." The 
spirit of all false prophecy comes, saying, " Shall the 
obedient truly live?" The true prophet appeals to 
faith; the false prophet to doubt. The former to the 
higher faculties; the latter to the lower powers of men. 

This false prophecy has a history almost if not quite 
parallel with God's word. This is the way all the 
course through. In the book of Revelation we have 
the summing up of the whole matter. Truth is tri- 
umphant and falsity is abolished. The true life is again 
restored. 

The term "prophet," we think, refers to the pro- 
phetic gift — the whole class of prophets. "A prophet 
shall God raise up like unto me," said Moses. We 
think this refers as much to Isaiah as to any other 
prophet. 

The term " beast" is used in a similar way. Truth 
and love, force and fraud are all the time put in con- 
trast. The false prophet is the representative of all 
untruth — heathenism and all false influences. The 
beast and the false prophet shall be taken and slain*- 
(Rev. 19: 20.) 



ISO 



REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 



God has made known his will to the world in different 
ways. "At sundry times and in divers manners" he 
has spoken, by prophets and by teachers and by his 
Son. We do not have prophets in these days, but we 
have teachers. Beware of false teachers, then! God at 
first spoke to man himself; but after the fall man was 
put at a distance. Then men and angels were sent. 

We will study false prophecy, with modern applica- 
tions. It is the same "old serpent" all the way along, 
though he has shed many skins. If the devil can not 
succeed in the skin of theology, he will put it off and 
put on science. The spirit of true prophecy is obedi- 
ence. False prophecy would make men feel that sin is 
a slight matter. We are not prophets, but teachers. 
But true teachers are those who speak according to the 
law and the prophets. (Deut. 13: 1-5; 18: 20.) 
Anything which would draw us away from obedience 
to the word of God, direct to us, is of the false prophet. 
What we know from God ourselves we must fulfill. 
Our modern S]3iritualists would have fared hard under 
Moses. 

In the times of the prophets men came claiming to 
speak from God. In the later times there came to be 
false teachers. We may trace the subject from the 
garden of Eden, where the serpent spoke, clear through 
to our own times, in the history of false religion. 
When I say false religion, I rather mean imperfect 
religion, for in much of heathenism there was a real 
longing for the good of the people. We think that 
Mahomet really had the good of the people at heart ; 
yet there was much of deception with many. We must 
study the subject in its spirit. 



FALSE PROPHECY. 181 

We have two kinds of false prophecy among us at 
present: Mormonism and Spiritualism. Mormonism 
claims, in particular, to be based upon prophecy. Spir- 
itualism is demon worship. This is a great age of 
skepticism; but I look for a reaction, soon, in which 
there will be much of false prophecy, credulity, and 
superstition. We think it may come to appear in 
France. 

We find false teaching in all Christian times. A false 
prophet claims inspiration; a false teacher does not, but 
sets up his own authority and his own self-will. 

The heretic is one who breaks fellowship, sets up his 
own will, thinks much of his reason — his self-conceit.. 
But we must make distinction between those who are 
real heretics and those who are only called so by their 
enemies. There are real heretics who are against the 
true word of God, and we should learn to discern 
them. They are spoken of in the New Testament. 

When God sets any new great principle before the 
world, he gives, also, an exemplification of it. So in 
preaching. Any idea which is above elementary should 
be illustrated. 

Whenever a great new principle of good is brought 
out, one of evil comes with it. Whenever a great 
leader arises, a false one follows. Moses was a great, 
true prophet, and Balaam was a real prophet but he 
spoke falsely. What was the inspiration of Balaam ? 
Was he compelled to speak as he did ? It seems that 
he had willed to speak a curse, but his lips would give 
a blessing. It might have been the power of the Spirit 
of God upon his spirit; it might have been the power 
of God upon his flesh ; we think it might have been the 



182 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

influence of angels. As greater muscular power over- 
comes lesser power of the same kind, so the greater 
spiritual penetration of the angels might control his 
thoughts and feelings. 

Balaam is spoken of in II. Peter 2 : 15 as one " who 
loved the wages of unrighteousness." His words were 
all right, but his heart was very wicked. In Revelation 
2: 14 "the doctrine of Balaam" is spoken of. No 
account of this doctrine is found in the Old Testament, 
but the account of the thing done is found in Numbers. 
Balaam's advice was to draw away and seduce the 
children of Israel to idolatrous practices. Balak was to 
send forth priestesses of Baal, who were consecrated 
harlots. Adultery was a part of the religion of Baal. 
Those things which are done now under the ban of 
Christianity were then considered honorable. They 
worshiped the productive energies of nature. 

There were difficulties in the early church respecting 
the question of Christ in the flesh. Some heretics 
denied that Christ came in the flesh. John speaks of 
this in a particular way. They held that the flesh had 
nothing to do with religion. The flesh was the work 
of the evil one, according to the Persian idea. They 
might be as corrupt as they pleased in the flesh if they 
received Christ in the spirit. It is the work of Balaam 
and Jezebel, who were the two great corrupters of the 
people of God. 

In the times of the early church there were prophets, 
both true and false. In Revelation 2 : 20 the same 
name, Jezebel, is given to this late prophetess. And 
so the two lines of prophecy which begun in the garden 
of Eden, the one the word of God, the other that of 



FALSE PROPHECY. 183 

the serpent, have come down through all the ages and 
.are the same to-day. The one says, " Jf you disobey 
you will die;" the other says, "You shall not surely 
die." " Do as you please; there will be no harm to 
you." The one is the voice to the spirit, the other to 
the flesh. 

I. Kings 18 : 22 is a description of the manner in 
which the heathen prophets used to prophesy. They 
did the best they could to lose possession of their 
rational powers, thinking that when they did the gods 
would take possession of them. 

The prophets of Baal were very accommodating. 
They were ready to prophesy at any time, and in the 
name of any god. Their oracles w T ere like those of 
the Greeks, capable of different meanings. "Go up 
and prosper, for the Lord will deliver into the king's 
hand." Deliver what into whose hand? The king of 
Judah asks for the prophet of Jehovah, who comes and 
prophesies against them all. False prophets always 
speak to please the people or for gain. 

Let us notice some examples of false prophets. 
Isaiah describes them : " The ancient and honorable, 
he is the head ; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he 
ds the tail." (Isaiah 9: 15.) The evil spirits act in 
man's lower parts. They spoke from the belly. The 
Holy Spirit possesses the higher parts of men. "And 
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have 
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that 
mutter : should not a people seek unto their God ? for 
the living to the dead ? To the law and ;to the test- 
imony : if they speak not according to this word, it is 
.because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8.: 19, .20./) 



184 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Here is a test of these who come speaking in the name 
of the Lord. The same principle holds good at this 
time. What God has spoken will he found to be in 
harmony with what he speaks now. His truth is the 
same in all ages, though it may come in a different 
form. If that which is spoken now be not in harmony 
with what he has spoken in all ages, it is not from him. 
6 ' They also have erred through wine, and through 
strong drink are out of the way ; . . . they err in 
vision, they stumble in judgment." (Isa. 28: 7.) The 
source of the inspiration of God is the " living fountains 
of waters." (Rev. 7: 17.) Not in the use of stimulants. 
The spirit of truth is not sensational. Sensational 
preaching is that of torn nerves to torn nerves. 

The prophet was a man born of the Spirit; but Jere- 
miah, speaking of the false prophets, says, "The 
prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in 
them." (Jer. 5: 13.) "A wonderful and horrible 
thing is committed in the land • the prophets prophesy 
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and 
my people love to have it so : and what will ye do in 
the end thereof?" (Jer. 5: 30, 31.) It was quite 
natural for the priest and king to act together, but it 
was a terrible thing when the prophets and priests 
leagued together for evil. 

Again he says: "They have healed also the hurt of 
the daughters of my people slightly." (Jer. 6 : 14.) A 
man is a false teacher w r ho makes people feel that sin is 
a light matter, and by teaching that men are born as 
pure as man ever was. So we may so preach that men. 
will excuse themselves because of their evil nature,, 
which they can not help. We should not so preach the 



FALSE PROPHECY. 185 

goodness of God as to lose sight of his justice. We 
must remember both the mercy and severity of God. 
We must preach the proportion of the. word. There is 
danger of our making excuses for people's sins. The 
false prophets cry, " Peace, peace; when there is no 
peace." 

God says, " Stand ye in the ways, and see and ask 
for the old paths." God has made ways for his people. 
When you come to a place where the divine will is not 
plain, stand still, and see and ask for the old path. 
Has there not been a path of righteousness for men in 
all ages, growing brighter and brighter? " Ask for the 
old paths. Where is the good way?" The old way is 
the way of faith. The old way is the way of self-denial. 
No man can preach without the cross of Christ, which 
is the spirit of obedience against the flesh. This itching 
to preach new things is full of mischief. To please 
people is not the great idea, though it may suit covet- 
ousness. We may preach the old things in a new 
spirit. (Jer. 8: 8-12; 14: 10-14; 23: 9-30.) The 
false prophets were in the habit of preaching other 
men's sermons. They had the word of God, but got 
it second hand. They took the true word from the true 
prophet and made a wrong application of it. Each one 
stole the word of the Lord from his neighbor. 

Isaiah 2 and Micah 4. These two prophets use the 
same words. The true prophets did use the words of 
each other. So Christ used the words of John ; and 
Paul takes a text from one who spoke before him. One 
prophet makes a statement, and another takes it up and 
explains it to the people. It is the way God has spoken 
to man, here a little and there a little. Isaiah and 

13 



186 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Micah were contemporary, though the statement of the 
time of his prophecy makes Isaiah commence earlier. 
It is thought that. Isaiah took words from Micah. God 
might have given them both the same words. It does 
not follow that they did borrow from each other. The 
;apostles spoke the same words of Jesus. One who uses 
the words of another may not be a plagiarist. But if 
one takes the words of another, and speaks them as his 
own, it is stolen. If one prophet should get a message 
from another, and c'aim to have received it from the 
Lord, he would be a false prophet. The words might 
be .true, but the man would be false. 

We are not prophets, but teachers. We do not speak 
of visions we have seen, but of what others have seen. 
We can preach of our own experiences as that which 
we have felt. A part of the power of the preacher is 
the silent influence of his own spirit It is our own 
message. False prophets went, in the name of the 
Lord, to speak what they did not receive from the 
Lord. If we truly make God's message to others our 
own, in spirit, it is all right. All truth is the Lord's. 
There is no patent on God's truth. The ear tastes the 
word as the tongue tastes food. We may get truth 
anywhere we will, if we but digest it and make it a part 
of ourselves. 

How Christ's preaching differed from that of the 
scribes! They simply took words one from another. 
They quoted what the rabbis said. Truth comes from 
God to our souls. The spirit of truth from Christ gives 
a living fountain. The scribes were only cisterns. We 
do not want a stagnant pond, but a living spring. Some 
men have studied books till they are great ponds. But 



FALSE PROPHECY. 187 

there is not that freshness about them such as comes 
from the spring; yet this matter of originality has been 
overdone in our day. We want men to be original, 
though they be absurd. The temptation is great to 
step aside for the admiration of the people. Sympathy 
with eloquent and noble things is akin to admiration 
for the person who speaks. Personal relations have 
great power for good. Some people can not hear the 
gospel from more than one. It is weakness, in general, 
yet it shows the power one may gain in that particular. 

Jeremiah 26 : 8-12. This is the treatment of the 
true prophet. How calm and patient the spirit of 
Jeremiah ! The princes and people were against the 
priests and prophets. What convinced them that Jere- 
miah w r as a true prophet? His spirit and the truth he 
spoke. He spoke in the name of Jehovah, and with a 
tender affection for the people. Christ's manner of 
speaking made some of the people think he was Jere- 
mias the prophet. 

There was no self-will nor flattery about Jeremiah. 
The priests and false prophets thought more of the 
temple and ark than they did of Jehovah and his law. 
As if a boy should think mere of a chestnut-burr than 
<of the nut itself. 

Jeremiah was in the hands of the people like Christ 
in the hands of the Jews. He seems to have had 
experiences most like Christ of any of the prophets. 
They both came with a great message, both fell into 
the hands of the people under condemnation: but 
Christ, unlike Jeremiah, was not saved from death. 
Jeremiah's spirit was like that of Christ. 



188 REV. AUSTIN CKAIG. 

Jeremiah had hard and dangerous things to say; and 
this is one mark of the true prophet. The false 
prophets came, saying, "Ye shall not surely die." 
They make sin a light thing. Not so with the true 
prophet. He has to say hard things. 

Jeremiah 28 : 5. Contrast between the false and 
true prophets. "Hananiah." How false the name! 
This false prophet evidently tries to destroy the reputa- 
tion of Jeremiah. It makes us think of some of the 
false reports of politicians just before election. Make 
many votes difference, may be. 

Jeremiah has the patriotic spirit. He wished it might 
be so, — has no ill-will toward any one. So it should 
be with the preacher. He may have to say, "Oh, thou 
sinful man ; " yet he may say it in a kindly spirit. 

Jeremiah had a yoke upon his neck. It was an 
object-lesson to the people. They tried to entangle 
him in his speech, that they might find something 
against him. See how wisely he answers ! How plain 
he speaks ! 

Hananiah died in the seventh month. It shows a 
divine interposition. 

Since the time of Samuel the prophets have been 
taking the place of the priests. Eli, as high-priest, 
occupied a high position. He was almost equal to the 
king. He was like priest and king. Samuel was like 
prophet and king. From him it was easy to go to a 
king. There was for a time a contest between priest 
and prophet; then between prophet and priest and 
king. In Jeremiah's time it was between true prophet 
and false prophet. 



FALSE PROPHECY. 189 

The contest between righteousness and evil has ever 
been changing. What is the field of strife to-day? 
The great question of to-day is, Who sha'l educate the 
next generation ? Education is the means of doing the 
work of conversion now. The strife is between the 
teachers of the world — the false and the true. The 
power of the teacher is seen in the history of the 
Jesuits. We think that we must educate our children 
or they will go to other denominations. 

As the prophet was succeeded by the teacher, so the 
time may come when the prophet shall again speak, — 
if not true, false. 

Can we have truth without God ? is the question. 
Some, to-day, are thinking that we can. It did not 
used to be so. This is the struggle in the minds of the 
people to-day. because of the claims of science. 

Jeremiah 29 : 20. The false prophets were to be 
slain before the eyes of the people. The loss of life 
was the greatest loss to the Jews. Earthly prosperity 
was the great promise to the obedient. What did the 
examp'e of Enoch teach? He was taken in the prime 
of life. His life was in the hand of God. 

Jeremiah 35 : 1. Rechab wishes to save his people 
from the corruption of wealth and self indulgence. 
Their mode of life was nomad. The burden of the 
true prophet is always, " Return ye from your evil 
ways." 

Jeremiah 42 : 4. "I will keep nothing back." The 
true prophet was unwilling to keep back anything. The 
people at last become willing to hear and do what the 
true prophet says. This is the result which the true 



190 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

prophet or teacher seeks and will bring about. This is: 
the great point, to so put the hard things of religion to 
the people that they shall at last accept and do them. 
Many who had the real gift of prophecy gave them- 
selves up to self-seeking, and became false. Though in 
sheep's clothing, they were inwardly ravening wolves. 
The forces of irreligion were enrobed in the clothing of 
religion. This must have been a sad thing to the true 
prophet. The book of Lamentations is the saddest 
book in the Bible. The priests bore the sign of the 
people upon their breasts, but the true prophets bore 
the people upon their hearts. Jeremiah had the gift of 
tears. In Lamentations the conflict is over and the 
crash has come. 

Lamentations 2:13, 14. There is a sort of somber 
comfort in knowing that others have suffered as much 
as we have. "Who can heal thee?" It must be the 
healing of the heart. " Where there is no vision the 
people perish." They must look to* the prophet of 
God. False and foolish things the prophets saw for 
them. If they had made known their sins, their cap- 
tivity might have been turned away. See the false 
burdens of the prophets. 

Ezekiei 13: 3. "They follow their own spirit." 
They do much barking, of which comes nothing. "Ye 
have not gone up into the gaps." They did not address 
themselves to the consciences of the people to turn 
them from sin. "They have seen -vanity and lying 
divination " Their names could not be found in the 
records, some of them, after the return from the captiv- 
ity of Babylon. They -were as untempered mortar. 



FALSE PROPHECY. 19T 

We must keep our mortar warm in the heart or it will 
not stick. But if there is not stone they can not be 
made to stick. The best of mortar will not stick 
together cabbage-heads. 

" Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes," 
etc. The prophets made the crutches, and the women, 
made them easy. Women are naturally enthusiastic, 
and will go to greater lengths in wickedness than men. 
They have less reflection than men, less perception or 
forethought of consequences. 

Ezekiel 14 : 4. How men come to think what they 
desire ! Any preaching which makes easy, consciences 
troubled with sin, is false prophecy. Let us beware. 

"Idols in the heart." The mind comes to play the 
attorney for the desires. The m nd is made to think in 
behalf of the affections. If a man wants to use tobacco 
he will seek some excuse or philosophical reason for 
using it. 

When a man comes to inquire he must be careful 
that he is not influenced by some selfish desire. The 
Lord may answer him according to his desire. It seems 
to be a law of the spirit. 

Ezekiel 22 : 25. Priests, princes, and prophets all 
conspired together for evil. There was no man to be 
found to stand against all this to bring the people to 
repentance. 

' Hosea 4:5. '• The prophet also shall fall." ' : Thou 
shalt be no priest to me." Christ told the Jews that the 
kingdom should be taken from them. There had ceased 
to be any saving power in the priest. All saving power 
is found in Christianity for these eighteen hundred years. 



192 EEV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Hosea 11 : 1-7. The prophets were naturally more 
delicate and susceptible than others. The prophet's 
nature was like that of the poet. Some preachers are 
so susceptible to the influence of the people that they 
can feel the yearning of their hearts without their telling 
them. The prophet was delicate and impressible, not 
only to the influence of God's Spirit but to the influence 
of the sinful people. The sins of Israel made the 
prophets crazy. " The spiritual man is mad. " Through 
sin Israel lost the power of prophecy. Caiaphas 
unconsciously uttered the last prophecy of the Jews, 
"It is needful for one man to die for the people." 

The gift of prophecy has passed over to the new 
dispensation. 

Amos 2 : 12. The people did not want the word of 
the Lord. 

Micah 8: 5. " They bite with their teeth, and cry 
peace." Wolves they were. They sold their prophetic 
gift for money. Their gift was taken away from them. 
By the misuse of any gift we lose it. 

Zephaniah 3 : 4. ZechariahlB: 2-7. The prophets 
were the last to be coirupted and cut off. At last they 
too yield to the influence of the people. The greatest 
gift of a people comes only as they wish it. Where 
the mothers are corrupt, the very children in the womb 
will suffer from it. Samuels are not born of Hitter- 
headed mothers. 

The new dispensation begins with the outpouring of 
the spirit of prophecy. We do well to consider the 
difference between the prophecy recorded in the 
inspired books and that in the apocrypha. There is 
prophecy which is inspired, and that which is not. 



FALSE PROPHECY. 193 

The apocryphal bcoks are imitations of inspired writ- 
ings. The Book of Maccabees, for instance, is valuable 
for its authentic history. The apocrypha gives an 
idea of the state of the people during those four 
centuries when there was no spirit of prophecy. There 
is the wisdom of the people after the fashion of Solo- 
mon or the Arabian tales. 

There was no open vision for four hundred years. 
Then heaven is open again, and angels appear to men. 

Every new dispensation begins with a pouring out 
of the Spirit of God upon men. The angel Gabriel 
appears to Joseph, who was a good man, though not a 
man of great character. Joseph's prophecy was of the 
lowest order — the dream. Mary rises higher, to that 
form of prophecy which is the vision. We do not 
make enough of Mary, the mother of the second 
Adam. It is because of our reaction from Romanism. 
The greatest honor of Eve is that she was the mother 
of the mother of the second Adam. Simeon, Zacha- 
rias, Anna, and others have the gift of prophecy at the 
beginning of the dispensation. Then Christ is the 
great prophet, and the spirit of prophecy ceases until 
the day of Pentecost. The church was established by 
the spirit of prophecy, and after the establishment of 
the church the spirit of prophecy seems to subside into 
the ordinary channels of life. 

The term "false prophet" occurs but once in the 
New Testament — Matthew 7 : 15. TheJ^ws thought 
so much of prophets that they were often drawn away 
by pretenders. While Christ was preaching the very 
things of the prophets of God, the people went away 
after sorcerers, spiritualists, heathenism. 



104 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Paul was followed up by false prophets or teachers.. 
Everywhere he goes this evil embassy follows. 

The false prophets referred to in Revelation may- 
have reference to the whole pretense of evil influence 
opposed to the teachings of Christ. 

II. Peter 2 : 1. False prophets were, but now false 
.teachers. In the first century of the Christian church, 
we find nothing of the supernatural. It was the time 
of planting. The strugg'e with the Jews was then over. 
But John, writing in the midst of this struggle, speaks 
of the false prophets. (I. John 4:1) Under the old 
dispensation the prophet was the man of the spirit. 
" Put the spirits to the test, whether they be of God,' ; 
he said. This is the test, "Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh." The false teachers were of the antinomian 
school, which had the Persian idea that the flesh was of 
the evil one and the spirit of the good one. But the 
Christian idea is that Christ came in the flesh to sanctify 
it. 

There were various false teachings which arose during 
the spread of the gospel among the Greek- speaking 
people, and there was a great confusion of Greek phi- 
losophy with Christianity. " Damnable heresies'' Peter 
calls them. A heretic is one who willfully teaches false 
things. " Denying the Lord who bought them/' Christ 
is the sovereign and only legislator of his church. 
They deny him when they legislate in his place, as the 
Church of Rome. 

Acts 20 : BO. , There is quite as much said against 
false teachers in the New Testament as against false- 
prophets in the Old Testament. False prophets were 
confined to Asia. In Europe we find the false teachers. 



FALSE PROPHECY. 195 

The Jews were always looking for something supernat- 
ural. So it was in Asia in general. Not so in Europe. 
The Greeks were speculative, and loved wisdom. They 
were satisfied with nature. They are not born to the 
supernatural. European nations have large intellect 
and conscience but want top-head. People of culture 
are able to make up by one element of their nature 
what they lack in another. Reason can make allow- 
ance for small reverence. 

Galatians 1 : 6, 7. The false teachers had another 
gospel — another of a different kind — yet it was not 
a?wther, but a gospel of a different kind. It was hete- 
rodox. We must wish, in general, that what we hear 
and what we preach be the gospel of Christ. Some, in 
those days, sought to make Christ a mere pendent to 
Moses, which would subvert the gospel. " Let him be 
accursed," said Paul. 

"Anathema" is declaratory and not imprecatory. 
It separates a man from the church but does not say he 
is lost, — that is, does not curse him. Our duty ceases 
in excluding him from fellowship. Then we must 
leave all to Chiist. 

Romans 16: 17. " SJzopin tons fas diko stasias." 
Have your eye over the whole field. " Mark those 
who make divisions and bring in sin." " Ekklinate" 
lean away from them. 

Colossians 2 : 16, 17. Judaism was but a shadow of 
good things to come." Christ is the all. 

Here are the characteristics of the false teachers : 
"Voluntary humility," born of their own self will. 
True humility is wonderfully near to true dignity. 
Heathen humility is groveling. 



196 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

We must learn to distinguish between real and 
spurious virtue. When people invent acts of humility 
they are acting from self-will. This is the work of 
monks, nuns, and heathen devotees. 

Imposition of virtue is more common in Asia than in 
Europe. There is more dignity among European 
nations. Heathen religions make great account of 
positions. 

Christ is free from all that. Paul is the father of 
European Christianity, and his writings abound in 
warnings against false teachers. 



Ths DivinG Judgment. 



Christ is judge, because he is able to know man in 
all his relations. The act of judging is that of discern- 
ing and of declaring. It is twofold. He must be able 
to read the souls of men and to pronounce the results. 
Judgment must also have sympathy. Christ was judge 
because he was the Son of man and could best meet 
all man's wants. 

It is a Christian privilege to live above even judg- 
ment, that is, the judgment of God. (I. Cor. 11 : 31, 
32 ) If we thoroughly judge ourselves God will not 
judge us, for there will be no need of God's judgment 
upon us. 

" Teen krisin" marks that judgment in which God 
has particular interest. 

The Son is not only the living Son but the life-giving 
Son. He has this gift of power by divine authority. 
It is ability as well as authority. He is able to do the 
whole work of discerning and executing, because he is 
the Son of man. 

It is the grace of God that this judgment was not 
given to angels, but to one who should sympathize with 
us in the flesh. Calvin could not do it. Judgment, to 
be true to the nature of man, must take into account 
man's weakness and conditions. True judgment must 



J 98 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

take into account the circumstances. The judgment 
of Christ will be according to sympathy. 'J his is a 
cheering thought. 

Different kinds of judgment may be illustrated by 
the different courts of justice. 

In studying the subject of the last judgment we must 
first make use of the word " krino" and its deriva- 
tives. There are several other words, but this is of 
most importance. 

First, then, God is judge of all. Romans 3: 6. 
" krirri." Here is an implication of it. Romans 2 : 
16. Here he declares it to be so. See also Hebrews 
12: 23. 

And Abraham asks : " Shall not the Judge of all the 
•earth do right? ' Thus we have the first point, that 
God is judge of all. 

Now, what is it in the divine attributes that makes 
him Judge? Is it that he knows all things ? He might 
know everything and have no moral sense. No, he 
must be righteous to be judge. Abraham implies this. 
He must not only be ail-wise but all-holy. 

The point is, what makes God judge, of necessity? 
God must be what he is, and can not possibly be other- 
wise. He can not help knowing all there is in the 
universe. Being all-holy, he can not be drawn toward 
that which is unholy. His very nature makes him hate 
evil. He would not be himself if he did not have that 
aversion to evil. These principles necessarily make 
God judge of the world. 

The spirit of holiness is the judge; infinite wisdom 
and omnipotence are infinite means, we might say. If 
we had to meet the omniscience of God alone in judg- 



THE DIVIXE JUDGMENT. 

merit, how could we stand? If we bad to stand before 
infinite holiness alone, could any man abide? 

All judgment belonged to God from the first, but he 
has made it all over to the Son. (John 5 : 22; 'Acts 
10 : 40 ) Why did he give it thus? It is incidentally 
brought out, but plainly (John 5: 27): Because he is 
Son of man. Son of God and Son of man, though 
they mean the same person, present very different 
phases of character. One presents him in his divine 
relations, the other in his human. 

When did he become Son of man ? He has been 
Son of God as long as he has been at all. He became 
Son of man when he left heaven. (Acts 17: 31.) 
" En andri." 

At his epiphany he did not come as judge. At his 
first coming he was not present as the judge. (John 
8: 15.) "I judge no man." Does he contradict 
himself? (John 3: 17.) " Krince" 

There was a time to come when he would judge. 
He came this time to save the world. (John 12 : 47 ) 
He was seeking to save, but he will come as judge, 
and there is a day, etc. (John 8: 21-26. This world 
and the world above. Can there be any change after 
the judgment. It is implied not. 

God is judge of all because he knows all and is the 
spirit of holiness which must choose good and hate 
evil. But while all judgment is of God, he judges by 
means, and that means is hi> Son. All judgment is 
given to him because he is the Son of man and is the 
best possible means of that judgment. 

How will he judge the world? " In righteousness.'" 
( Acts 17 : 31.) This will be the sole test of all souls — 






200 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

righteousness. We shall not be judged by our gifts- 
nor by our intellects, but by the principle of right — 
the purity of the heart. 

It is not to be in the infinite degree of righteousness 
as in God, for our human nature can not come to that 
to be tried by it. Nor is the righteousness of angels to 
be the test, but "that man whom he hath ordained.' 7 
This is the criterion by which we shall be judged. 
Christ, the divine Son of man, applies the test. It is 
the same Spirit, but it is a form that we can understand. 
Man may blaspheme the Son of man, and may be for 
given; but he who rejects the Son of God — blasphemes- 
the Spirit — can not be forgiven at all, for it is the 
highest manifestation that God can give to man. 

" He hath appointed a day." When shall that day 
be? What does it mean? Does it mean a long period, 
of time ? or some particular day to come ? It is a great 
question for search. 

What is it that shall judge in the last day ? (John 
12: 42.) "The Word." All that God has spoken to 
man concerning his life and destiny is in Christ. His 
whole will concerning man must be seen in him. He 
was tl e word of God. 

What does "the last day" mean ? I do not answer 
it. The ideas that have been held may be found in the 
history of Christianity. What does the Bible langir ge 
mean when it says the last day ? Where did this idea 
come from? The expression, "In the last day," is 
peculiar to John. 

John 6: 37. "To do his will." What is the one 
great will concerning man? "That I should lose 
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." He 



THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. 201 

says, "/will raise him lip at the last day." This gives 
us no clue to what the resurrection is nor when the last 
day is. That was not his point in mind. See also the 
fifty-fourth verse. 

" He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." He 
uses the present tense. Shall have it now. He does 
not say that the resurrection is now; that might be 
future, but eternal life is present. 

And "I am that bread of life." St'll, what does 
" the last day " mean ? I think of two things. Either 
the last day that comes to every man in his life, or a 
certain period in the world's history. I do not know of 
any other opinions held. It may be a question that the 
Scriptures do not enable us to determine. If we take 
the first idea, he will resurrect every man at his death, 
that is, in his last day. 

Let us call to mind again the steps we have been 
over: Two things make God judge of all — omnis- 
cience and righteousness. But he has given all judgment 
to the Son. To meet man's finite conditions he made 
the Son of man judge, for he knew how to pity man, 
and mercy is the third element of the Judge's character. 

Christ comes first as Savior. He will come again to 
judge. He comes first to plant those principles which 
should make separation between good and evil, driving 
each away to its own place. There is a day (an age 
we would say) appointed for this judgment. The last 
day may be the last day of every man or the last age of 
the dispensation. But this point of the last day is not 
an essential one, let it be as it may. "Judge" is a 
relation of God to his creatures. So is Father a relation. 
We may think of the time when God was not Creator, 

14 



202 "REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

for nothing was created. There was a time when he 
was not Father. There was a time when he was sim- 
ply God. So there was a time when there was no Son 
of God. Thus we may think of God in two different 
aspects : simply as God, without any relations, and as 
our Father, etc. So it is with regard to the Son of God. 
Christ's character has two points of view : as he was 
with God, in his relations divine, and in his human life 
and relations to us. " No one knoweth the Son (in his 
divine nature ) but the Father." "No one hath seen 
God" — in his infinite nature. We can only know as 
much of God in his nature as can be represented in 
finite nature. All that we can know of God we know 
through Christ. I think we never can know God in 
the fullness of his infinite nature, only as it can be mani- 
fest by that spirit which God gives. The infinite depths 
to us will be like two mathematical lines — verging ever, 
but meeting never. We may go on forever gaining 
knowledge of God and yet never come to the fullness 
of his wisdom and love. In Christ is all the fullness of 
the divine riches. 

What is it, then, that makes Christ judge of all the 
world ? This question is something like the one we 
first begun with. Could he be judge of all if he could 
not know all there is in man ? We think it was neces- 
sary that he should know it, and we think he did. 
What have we in the Scriptures on the point ? Peter 
thought that Christ knew all things. (John 20; 17.) 
This may not be proof. 

What are the secrets of the heart? Thoughts and 
feelings expressed in any way are no longer secrets. 
The secrets are deeper than this. They exist in incli- 



THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. 203 

nations and tendencies in the affections and will. 
Thought is of the intellect and desires are of the affec- 
tions. There are two principles of action in the affec- 
tions ; aversion and desire. The affections rouse up the 
intellect. You can not see my thoughts before I 
express them, but God can. Man can not go into his 
own heart. Even consciousness does not go down into 
the depths of the heart. 

The more we look into ourselves the more we know 
of ourselves in the secrets of human nature, and the 
more safe we can make ourselves from temptation. 

Now Christ, to be able to judge the secrets of all 
hearts, must have something more than human power. 
Judgment is to- reveal character and not mere deeds. 
The secrets of men are in their spirits. The man is his 
intention. The man is the will. It is not his thought. 
Intellect is only mediator. It is the thoughts and in- 
tentions of the heart that make the man in the sight of 
God. (Heb. 4: 12.) "The word of God is living 
and energetic and sharper than a two-edged sword." I 
can not separate between my soul and spirit and tell 
where my natural life stops. The Spirit of God only 
can do that. That Spirit only can be judge. (John 
12: 48.) I came not to judge the world now. "The 
Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in 
the last day." His whole testimony is the judge. 
(Heb. 4 : 11, 12.) Let us see how the Word has pow- 
er to judge. First, what is meant here by "Ho logos?" 
(Heb. 13: 7.) Something spoken, in the teachers of 
God. Properly it is the whole meaning of what is 
spoken. Afterward it was written. These records are 
called the word of God. Yet the word cf God is not 



204 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

the letter, whether Greek or English. The real word 
of God is not the book, but the meaning. It makes no 
difference whether it be in Greek or English. It is not 
in the spoken word. It is not in the meaning of the 
speaker; it is the meaning of God. The real word is 
the meaning of God. That meaning may come in dif- 
ferent ways. We have had acting prophets. There is 
a class of meanings that can be better set forth by signs 
than by any other way. When God speaks to men on 
earth he has to use poor material means. He can speak 
to divine beings in heavenly language. Plenarily in- 
spired spirit is better than inspired writings. We should 
have no need of the Bible if we could have the plena- 
rily inspired man all the time with us. There was a 
time when there was no written word of God. Was 
there no word, then, before it was written ? Yes ; it was 
all in the bosom of God from the first. The Son was 
in the bosom of the father. God's meaning is identical 
with himself. So it is with man. The word of a man 
is his meaning as it is with God. Meaning is separable 
from the one who has the meaning. What does God 
mean? What is he seeking? He is seeking his own 
image in his creatures. He sets his meaning before us 
in his own Son. He makes his infinite being personal, 
embodied in flesh, made plain to us, and the -meaning 
of God is the Judge. Not the human nature of Christ 
will judge, not the Greek nor English letters and words 
will judge us, but the meaning as it is in Christ. 

Heb. 4: 12. Ci Piercing even to the dividing asun- 
der of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, 
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart. " 



THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. 205 

Notice the Pauline idea of the metaphysics of man, 
as body, soul, and spirit. Joints and marrow are terms 
used because of their adaptation to the purpose of rep- 
resenting the penetrating power of the Spirit. It is 
"kritikos" critical of the thoughts of the intellect and 
intents of the heart. Here we get the idea of what we 
have our judge for. He who has the living word of 
God can search and reveal the hearts of men. 

The logos which Christ speaks represents that which 
he u. In what way does it exercise its judgment? 
God's laws and himself are not different in their last 
analyses. It is identical with himself. So it is with our 
own beings. The word of God is identical with Christ 
himself. Then, from a study of the principles in the 
words of Christ, he teaches us what Christ is. The 
word spoken is more powerful than the word written. 
The living man carries a power of spirit with him. We 
feel the influence of a man whose written words may 
not touch us. Christ spoke as never man did. His 
very presence had a spirit with it that made them stand 
back with awe. There is a difference between the 
spoken word and written word of Christ. 

Christ is to be Judge himself — not the Bible. The 
judgment of the last day is searching of hearts by the 
personal agency of Christ. The word gives us the laws 
and principles of his life and spirit, and by this medium 
we come into personal relations to Christ. The word 
brings us into spiritual relations to Christ, so that we are 
in him and he in us; so that he will judge us by the 
spirit of his personal presence. The word is the out- 
ward testimony of Christ's inner being which shall 
judge us. Without this law there could be no judg- 



206 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

ment. The Bible is the medium of communication of 
the Spirit of God to man. That Spirit of Christ is 
God's word. If we have a fullness of the Spirit abid- 
ing in us, we have no need of the Bible. The Bible is 
not the Spirit of God, the Spirit is a higher gift. 

The Spirit of Christ will glance through the man and 
reveal him in the judgment. That judgment reveals to 
man what he is, and shows him his relations to God. 
Not a word need be spoken ; we shall know where we 
belong, and go to our own place. The object of judg- 
ment in human affairs is to find out the truth. God has 
no need of this for the sake of his knowledge, but it 
may be necessary to reveal man to himself. (I. Cor. 
4: 4, 5.) "Will make manifest the counsels of the 
hearts," etc. 

We judge too much by the influence of outward 
things. A man's consciousness of no sin will not jus- 
tify him. "Judge nothing before the season." There 
is a season for judgment. A man may not know his 
ruling affections. He does not know himself in the 
depths of his nature. 

Rev. 2: 23. "I am he which searcheth the reins 
and hearts : and I will give unto every one of you 
according to your works/ 7 "Reins and hearts" maybe 
taken in the general sense to represent the inmost being 
•of man. Each may have its special significance. The 
hearts may represent the man's affections; the reins, or 
kidneys, represent the separating functions, the analyti- 
cal faculties, conscience, perhaps. It was Christ who 
said this. The idea of searching the hearts is brought 
out in II. Corinthians 5 : 10, 11. "Phaneroo theenai^ 



THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. 207 

signifies, be manifest. A man appears for trial, but it 
may be made manifest that he is guilty or not guilty. 

We are not only to be personally present there, but 
we must be made manifest, whether good or bad. God 
•did not appear, but was made manifest. Appearance 
belongs to the visible and material. Manifestation is 
more spiritual in its meaning. It implies discernment 
•of that which is hidden. "We persuade men; but we 
are made manifest unto God." We can not make men 
see our motives, but to God we are manifest. 

The judgment may be seen or it may not. It is a 
making manifest, is the idea. The great design of the 
judgment is to reveal man to himself. Men go through 
life in a vain show and never know themselves. They 
•deceive themselves all the way through. I think the 
judgment will be in the spiritual world. This is only 
my thought. When a man enters the other life he 
comes under an influence that makes him feel all that 
he is, good and bad. He is searched and revealed to 
himself. The possibility of self-deception can not be 
there from the nature of things. There will be no veil- 
ing of the heart there. No need of it. It will be all 
pure and open. There will be no need of secrets. 

A man judges himself. A view of Him transforms 
us. How is our destiny related to the judgment? Is 
it arbitrary with the will of the Judge ? or is it the inev- 
itable outgrowth of his life ? Can God, by his will, put 
one where he pleases, or must he go where he is fit to 
go by his own choice ? 

A great many ministers fail to produce right results 
in the minds of the people because they do not address 
themselves to their moral conscience and reason. They 



208 REV. AI T STIN CRAIG. 

have too much contempt for reason. Revelation is 
addressed to man's reason. "Come, let us reason 
together." " Paul reasoned." They fail because they 
do not know the age. No man needs such a knowledge 
of men as the minister. We must know what the peo- 
ple are thinking about. We must know what the world 
is and what men are doing. Paul knew more than all 
the rest put together, and his churches which he planted 
in Europe represent the active Christianity of the day. 
He had a wide culture, and knew how to take every- 
body. He was a trinity of himself — Greek, Jew, and 
Roman. He was able to reach ail classes of men. 
Many fail if they do not go in some particular class of 
men. It is a great thing for us to be able to talk with 
all the different classes of men, — to the politician as 
well as to the simple-minded man who lives on the back 
road. " The days of ignorance God winked at, but he 
has now appointed a day in which he will judge the 
world in righteousness." 

Some men must be reached by reason, 2nd can not. 
be touched by quoting scriptures, which, it may be, 
they do not believe. W T e must try to so speak to people 
that their minds shall be opened to us, If we appeal 
to them so that they slam the door against us, we shall 
fail. We must gain the confidence. The great point 
is to adapt the scripture truth to the age and conditions 
and wants of men. 

Shall we use the figures of the Bible so much ? Had 
we not better use familiar things to force home the same 
truth ? put the same wine in different vessels ? Yet the 
truth should not be softened. Perhaps we may best 



THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. 209 

meet the evils of ultra Calvinism with the philosophical 
ideas of such works as Combe's Constitution of Man. 

Everything we do in the moral and spiritual sphere 
will reproduce itself. Whatever we do is the seed of 
which we shall reap. We shall be judged according to 
our work — according to what we do by means of the 
body. 

What is the relation of the judgment to retribution? 
We must be manifest. Why ? That retribution may 
follow. 

In this the Universalists have hold of a half truth 
which gives them power. Nothing is so dangerous as 
partial truth. Unmixed error is not so dangerous. 
Most all these "isms" are partial truths. 

In the judgment we must appear what we are. 
Every one then appears to himself, in his own con- 
sciousness, what he is in the sight of Christ. And he 
will appear in a corresponding body. I believe in the 
resurrection of the body, but not of the same body. 
One's body will then show' just what he is. Each will 
receive a body adapted to the character and life of his 
being. 

Now, here is a new state of society to be formed. 
What is the will or principle of fellowship? Those 
who are alike in love will go together. This is the great 
law. In this way eternal society will be formed. 



The Resnrrectinii and the Life. 



"I am the resurrection and the life." This is the 
great seed-text of the great subject of resurrection. In 
other words, the subject of " life and incorruption made 
luminous in the gospel/' This great principle was only 
dimly seen in the Old Testament. 

There are two lives we have to consider : Bios, the 
life we live, and Zoee, the life by which we live. So 
that, as St. Paul says, " Though our outward man per- 
ish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." 

Resurrection refers somewhat to the outward life, but 
principally to the inward. First, we will consider the 
resurrection in its relations to the life. In many places 
Zoee is connected with the word everlasting. John has 
most to say about this Zoee. The Zooe was the light of 
the world. It is not the knowledge that is in the world, 
it is the right living that is the light of men. 

The innermost thing in the logos of God is the Zoee. 
(John 1 : 4.) "In him was life; and the life was the 
light of men." In John 5: 24, it is " Zoeen aionion" 
divine life. Not merely relating to conditions of time. 
That is not its highest quality; divineness is its great 
idea. Zoee came from the bosom of God, and he knows 
all about that life. We do not and can not. We can 
not know infinite things. Yet that fountain has been 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 211 

ensealed and set before man in a form that he can 
understand, — embodied in the logos. Thus we have 
life in its two aspects: life as it was with God, and the 
stream of life flowing into the souls of men. 

"For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he 
given to the Son to have life in himself." (John 5; 26.) 

Now Christ, by the Holy Spirit, communicates a 
spring, or fountain, of living divineness — "a well- 
spring of life " — to the believer. 

John's doctrine of the logos is the beginning of the- 
ology. The question was, How can Infinity reveal 
itself to finite beings ? This is the great subject of the- 
ology. 

Now, the resurrection is the completing of that life 
which Christ gives. What is the life that Christ gives? 
It is a true life which knows no change. It is called 
" everlasting life," which seems to be the fullest idea of 
that life which can be given us. It is that "which was, 
is, and is to be" like the life of God, from whom is all 
life. The etymology of the name Jehovah, the covenant 
keeping God, gives us an idea of its meaning; and 
Elohim, the life-giving God. Man is made capable of 
■communion with the Spirit of God. 

I do not wonder that the Old Testament makes so 
little of the idea of future life when I think that they 
had a covenant-keeping God, who was an ever-present 
source of life flowing out to them. 

"In the beginning," did Christ have personality? 
We think that is what John means. The "logos''' had 
beginning. We could not say that "Ho theos" had 
beginning. We will not try to define what personality is. 

"Pros ton theon" We can not tell just what this 



212 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

relation was. We can think of the logos as sun tou theon, 
but pros implies something nearer. 

The Son, then, was before the creation of the world. 
He was not created but begotten. 

The first thing to be known by man is the logos. Be- 
fore that there was nothing but God. He was all alone ; 
no creation, no relations to anything. Before the 
beginning, only God. In the beginning there was the 
logos. It was not independent of God, " Theos" it 
was a near relationship. " In the beginning" is not 
commensurate with "from all eternity. " 

The word logos is from lego, I say. It is the meaning 
that is in the man. There was in God an " eternal 
purpose' 7 before he begot his Son. Ho logos was the 
God. The whole universe was God in his thoughts 
and purpose. There was a purpose, plan, and culmi- 
nation of the universe of God. The finite mind is first 
analytic and then synthetic; the infinite mind is syn- 
thetic from the first. 

Ho logos is an expression of God — a revelation of 
his nature, life, and being. "The life ^' spoken of is 
that which, from God through Christ, is received into 
the beings of all those who accept it. " That which was 
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we 
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, 
and our hands have handled of the word of life; (for 
the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear 
witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was 
with the Father, and was •manifested unto us.)" (I. 
John 1: 1, 2.) Eternal life is the great idea of the 
gospel; temporal life was the idea of the Old Testament,, 
and participation in the divine life is the idea of life. 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 213 

"Partakers of the divine nature." (II. Peter 1 : 4.) 
We' want to get the New Testament idea of life. [See 
Ephesians 3 : 14-19.] " For this cause I bow my knees 
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he 
w r ould grant you according to the riches of his glory, 
to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner 
man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that 
ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and 
length and height; and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with 
all the fullness of God." He is trying to give us an 
idea of God's fullness of infinitude. Words are poor to 
do it. He uses hyperbole, which it is very proper to 
use in speaking of God. "Is pan to" into "all the 
fullness of God." A boy grows to fill clothes now too 
large for him, and thus we may ever grow in Christ ; 
but first Christ must be known by the affections and 
the will, as well as by the intellect. 

This divine life begins the moment the Holy Spirit is 
received into the heart. It may be illustrated by the 
quickening of the embryo in the mother's womb. 
Then comes the life. A man hears, and thinks, and 
wills, and these are steps toward divine life, but not 
that life ; for the Spirit has not yet come into his affec- 
tions, and until it does, Christ is not in him. Christ 
stands at the door and knocks, and if we hear his voice 
and open the door he will come in and abide with us. 

This, then, is that life : first in God in all its fullness, 
next in his Son, the logos, in heaven and "with us." 
It is the life manifested first in heaven and then in the 



214 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

flesh ; then afterward he goes back and comes in the 
Spirit. 

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit is not different 
from Christ himself, save that it is a new manifestation 
of his love acting upon our affections. "By the love 
of Christ which passeth knowledge." 

That life is first the Father's. The Son partakes of 
the life of the Father, though he has not the fullness of 
that life. Then Christ comes to us in the flesh, and 
makes us partakers with him of that life. He sets 
before us what becomes a motive in the heart- — some- 
thing without which there is no immortality in the New 
Testament sense, for mere continued existence seems to 
be a question by itself. Immortality, or the everlasting 
life, is a new principle, but we can not define it. John 
speaks most particularly of the life. In the sixth chap- 
ter of his gospel we have something concerning the 
relation of the flesh to the life. Christ is the true meat 
and the " bread of life," and the processes of bodily 
nourishment illustrate the eating, and drinking, and 
digesting of Christ. The Spirit of God is the life and 
the life -giver. The life you can have now, he said, 
but the resurrection is at the last day. "I give unto 
them eternal life, and they shall never perish," he said. 
(John 10: 28.) "Forasmuch then as the children are 
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise 
took part of the same, that through death he might de- 
stroy him that had the power of death, that is, the 
devil." (Hebrews 2: 14.) 

There is one who has the power of death, that is, 
over all flesh. The idea is, that they shall not die to all 
eternity. His power to give life is above all power of 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 215 

the devil to take it away. The devil works through 
the powers of the flesh; but when the flesh is put off in 
the power of the Spirit, the evil one can not reach up 
to that. Adam had the capacity of eternal life, but 
with the possibility of having it snatched from him. 
Not so the new Adam. 

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man 
cometh to the Father but by me." (John 14: 6.) 
Christ is the way to go. He did not say, No one 
cometh to God, or to Jehovah, but by me, for they did 
corne to God and Jehovah, as Paul speaks of " through 
nature up to nature's God;'' but no one can come into 
sonship but by Christ. It is the one crowning grace of 
the Christian religion that it brings men to the Father. 
Christ is the only way to loving sonship. 

There is truth in other religions, but "the truth" — 
the Father's love — can only be known through Christ. 
The truth of God has come step by step to man, and 
the whole circle of truth is complete in Christ. 

"The way" is a succession of steps in the right di- 
rection. If we follow these steps we shall discern "the 
truth." The mind will grow clear and the heart warm 
toward God and yet not have "the life." "The way " 
and "the truth" prepare us for the life." "If ye had 
known me, ye should have known my Father also," he 
said. They did know him by his outward personality 
in the flesh, but they did not know the divine character 
in his bosom. They knew his physiognomy as a Jew^ 
but they had still to go on to know the Spirit of Christ. 
The Spirit in him is the father. " Show us the Father," 
they said ; but they did not discern that the Spirit of 
Christ was the Spirit of the Father. Here the doctrine 



216 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

of the divine life runs into the doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit. Again he said: "lam in the Father and the 
Father in me." We can not, of course, think of this 
as being so in a material way, for matter, we say, is 
impenetrable; but we do find good illustrations in 
those substances which are most subtle. The gases are 
vacua to each other. This is true of spirit in a way that 
we are not now able to understand. There is a sense 
in which Christ is in God, and man in Christ, and vice 
versa; yet no man is able to receive the fullness of the 
divine nature. That Christ alone can receive. 

Spiritual communication between God and man may 
be illustrated by the telegraph. God has a message to 
send to man, who has the power to receive it. Christ 
is the medium of transmission. 

Man is in the condition of sin. The whole man, in 
a spiritual sense, is dead. There are degrees of life. 
There is a life as it is in the bosom of God — divine life 
— and it flows out as a manifestation in the logos, which 
has a different consciousness from that of the Father. 
Now that life flows out again to men. There is a radi- 
cal difference between the life of Adam and the life of 
Christ. Adam was created ; Christ was begotten. 
Adam was a perfect man but not a spiritual man. He 
was a natural man, and his action as such was right. 
In our fallen condition it is not so. The action of our 
natural powers is not right. Adam was a seer — he 
"saw God;" as we think, the embodied God, for we 
think he could not discern the spiritual being of God. 

The fall closed Adam's spiritual eyes and blunted his 
natural affections. He went to the plane of animal 
life. This made it necessary for God to make a new 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 217 

manifestation that could reach man on the plane to 
which he had fallen. In the fullness of time this great 
plan was brought about. 

This saving to spiritual life must be in one of two 
ways : by opening the closed up powers. Christ did 
this; he stood side by side with men, ate with publicans 
and sinners, and melted their hard hearts in love. 

Adam's life was an arrested development. He might 
have gone on and become a spiritual man, by receiving 
the Holy Spirit; but he not only stopped, but went 
down to the lower plane. 

Through Christ God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell 
in the spirit of man. Man's true life is in his Spirit. 
The Holy Spirit which Christ gives makes the spirit of 
man alive. We call it spiritual life, because it dwells 
in the spirit of man. It is heavenly life in its origin 
and quality, but not yet in its condition. The spirit 
within us shall be embodied in a new form adapted to 
its heavenly condition. The world does not possess the 
Holy Spirit; the church does. The church sustains the 
same relations to the world that Christ did to the natu- 
ral affections of man. "Ye are the light of the world, yy 
but Christ is the light of the church. The influence of 
a real Christian over the natural affections of men is 
sometimes wonderful. 

Man was created a spirit, capable of receiving the 
life of God and of living in conscious communion with 
him. He was made in the image of God. The angels 
were created, but Christ was the begotten Son. The 
lowest form of life spoken of in the New Testament is 
spiritual life. 

The glorification of Christ was his passing back from 

15 



218 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

the life of the flesh to the divine life he left. Now that 
men are ready to receive it, he pours the Spirit upon 
them, which brought them into relations to the true life. 
While he was in the flesh he could not be present every- 
where, but when he went back to the spirit-life, he 
could be present wherever there was a receptive soul. 
We think that the Holy Spirit was Christ himself, God 
himself, but in a new manifestation. He said: "It is 
needful for you that I ( as I now am ), go away." Why ? 
That he might come to them in the Spirit, which was a 
higher manifestation of divine life, reaching down to 
man. For illustration : I build a bridge of boats across a 
;river, so that I can put up a telegraph. When the line 
as laid, so that I can communicate, I care not for the 
ibridge. So Christ came to establish communication 
with men. The flesh was the bridge. Thus he told 
them that, by the influence of the Spirit, they should 
be able to do greater things than he did in the flesh. 

He would send "another Comforter." Christ, in 
the flesh, was a Comforter with them; but he came to 
dwell in the spirits of men. He said: "I will come 
unto you." He came in the Spirit; the flesh, as a 
medium of the Spirit, is limited. After he left the 
flesh he could give the fullness of the Spirit. 

The subject of the Holy Spirit comes in here. "It 
is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing : 
the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and 
they are life." (John 6: 63.) He would teach them 
that the flesh of him without the Spirit was not a thing 
of value. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give 
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
forever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world can 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 219 

not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth 
him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you." (John 14: 16, 17.) 

The world can not see him, because they have not 
the spiritual eyes. At this time he was with them, but 
now he was to come nearer and be in men. Christ 
is nearer to us than he was to them who saw him in the 
flesh. He was outward to them ; to us he may be in- 
ward. 

They should not be left as i ' orphans " — " comfort- 
less." "I will come unto you." When? "Yet a 
little while." The world will know him no more, 
because they only know him by the senses; but they 
would know him (not see him) in their souls. "At 
that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, you in 
me, and I in you." 

The Holy Spirit comes in the name of Christ. He 
has come and laid the means of communication ; now 
he goes to send his messages of love to the hearts of 
men who will make themselves receptive. 

John 15. The vine is used much in Scriptures to 
represent relations to God. Christ was the root of the 
vine. The Father planted him in the world. If the 
branch remain in the root — Christ — Christ will remain 
in the branch, by sending the life supplying principle 
through the inner parts. The figure is used to show 
their relations to Christ as the life-giver. When he left 
the flesh, he was to come and dwell in their spirits — 
the spirit of truth in our spirits and life. There is a 
time when we are to appear in Christ, and that is the 
resurrection. We shall be visibly manifest to him and 
he to us. 



220 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

The term " spiritual life" is not scriptural. It is 
" eternal life," or "everlasting life." Shall we preach 
that Christians are already partakers of eternal life? 
A man may have eternal life, if he possess it but five 
minutes. It is eternal in quality, and it may be in 
duration. We do not have the fullness of that life now; 
we have an earnest of the title-deed. Christ cam&to- 
give eternal life to every one who will receive it. 
"This is life eternal, that they might know thee the* 
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." 
(John 17: 3.) 

I used to think that knowledge of God was the means 
of gaining eternal life; but I now think that God is 
known by communion with him; by receiving his Spirit 
into the inmost "man. God in Christ dwelling in our 
bosoms is eternal life. It is divine life in quality; it. is 
eternal, in the sense of duration, if man always con- 
tinues in it. If the life is in the Son, and the Son is in 
the disciple, thenvthe life is in the disciple. " And this 
is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, 
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath 
life; and he that^hath not the Son hath not life." (I. 
John 5: 11, 12.)" 

In II. Corinthians 4: 7-16 Paul brings out the idea 
of "the life of Jesus made manifest in our body." 
We see death also in our bodies, but there is life in the 
Christian. The outside man is flesh, but the inside 
man is spirit. The one may perish, while the other is 
renewed day by day. Then follows the idea of "our 
earthly house of this tabernacle," and of " a building 
of God." God first dwelt with his chosen people in a 
tent; then in a permanent building. So God dwells in 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 221 

the fleshly house of man here; but will dwell in a 
heavenly body hereafter. 

Christ does not complete his work with us by coming 
into our spirits to dwell. It is immortal life, but it is 
in mortal conditions. ."The spirit is willing, but the 
flesh is weak." As Horace Mann used to say, " Gne 
needs to be put into a better body.' 1 He needs a new 
body to adapt him to his new life and conditions. 

Christ is not only the life, but the resurrection. He 
gives life, and raises up what has fallen. This is to be 
" in the last day." When that last day is I do not 
know. It makes no difference to the comfort of the 
Christian hope. 

The resurrection body will be one that needs no 
sleep; for there is no night there. There we may be 
able to labor or be in unceasing activity. Christ does 
not give us much light on these matters. He will 
receive them to himself; maybe not all at once — he 
may come to each one, as he came to Stephen. 

Christ has a definite theology, which men may ac- 
cept or reject. He had a great intellect, though we are 
not apt to think of it. He was so great in his spiritual 
life, that we do not grasp him in any particular. They 
could not catch him in any way. They all came out 
second best with him. His divine life carries us away, 
so that we do not think of him as teacher. But he has 
a ; positive theology. He knew exactly what he was 
about. He knows many things that we need yet to 
know. He knows many things that we can not under- 
stand, and therefore can not receive them. This he 
said to his disciples. He had a work, as teacher, which 
he could not finish here. He is still teaching his church 



222 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

spiritual things; through all these ages he is teaching. 
Christ is perfectly clear, yet there are mysteries in him. 
Water may be clear, and yet we can not see to the 
bottom. So Christ is perfectly clear, yet so deep in 
some things, that we can not understand him. 

Jesus does not spend time over opinions. He says, 
"Amen, amen." He does not give us so much on 
some subjects as we would like ; but all that is good for 
us, no doubt. So it is with the subject of the resurrec- 
tion. 

We need to examine some subjects in both the 
negative and the positive way. Some truths can be 
presented only in the negative way. Several words 
bearing on the subject of resurrection need to be looked 
up. 

The man who has the Spirit, and lives in grace, 
already has eternal life, though he may be able to lose 
it. "They who attain to that state of life after the 
resurrection shall not die any more. " "They shall be 
as the angels." "They shall never perish." This 
shuts out all power of decay. "Not a hair of your 
head shall perish." (Luke 21: 18.) What does it 
mean ? Not literal, can it be ? Does not he mean " the 
life?" The hair is the least organ of the body. The 
full organization of the man complete in Christ shall 
be preserved. A sick man loses his hair, and does not 
get the same hair back, and yet he says, " I have got 
my hair back.'* It is not necessary that we should have 
the same flesh, and blood, and hair; yet we shall have 
all that belongs to the man. Some think that there is 
a germ in this body that shall spring into a new growth. 
God is able to give us what we need in his own way. 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 223 

About the home in which we shall be there are two 
words. "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor 
are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in 
heaven." (Matthew 22: 30.) If they are truly mar- 
ried here there is no need of it there. Spiritual 
relations of love, I think, will continue through all 
eternity. Christ does not deny this. Eve will be more 
to Adam than any other one could be. My wife will 
be more to me than any other ; but there will be nothing 
carnal there. 

The temple was a figure of the Father's house. 
This, to the Jews, was the Father's house (seen); and 
he says, ' ' In my Father's house ( unseen ) there are many 
mansions." The last word of the carpenter is, " I go 
to prepare a place for you." We would like to know 
more, but this is all that we now need. He dwells more 
on "the life" than anything else. 

It seems to me that this life has in it a consciousness 
of immortality. If we have the divine life, must it not 
be conscious of itself? 

Does the fear of death belong to the divine life ? 
No. The fear of death is everywhere in the flesh. 

" Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in the 
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 
and shall come forth," etc. "In the graves" means 
those in the state of death. They shall come forth 
from the conditions of death. Those who were raised 
to life before Christ's resurrection were not raised to 
the resurrection state, but to the same conditions of 
bodily life. Christ is Lord of all souls, — both the dead 
and the living, in the body or out of it. These ques- 



224 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

tions of future life and its conditions came up in Greek 
times. Plato had his philosophy of the future life. 

Dr. Trench says that the study of words is the study 
of theology. True. Properly, however, the study of 
the word of God is theology. The study of words is 
full of interest and instruction. Words grow in their 
meaning to us, and we adopt them as new articles of 
our faith. Some words are creeds in themselves. Thus 
it is with the word "immortality." Moses does not 
use it, and indeed it is not in the gospel as a word. 
The idea is then in this: "They shall never die." 
The idea must come before the word to express it. 
Moses had not the New Testament idea of immortality. 
Christ gave the new idea to men. The word is found 
in use in the epistles. The trouble with most writers 
on this subject is, they take the language of the East as 
though it was the language of matter-of-fact New 
England. 

There are two words in Greek for immortality : 
Athanayia and aphtharsia. They have not the same 
meaning. The first means undeathly ; the second, in- 
corruptibility. The study of their use is the study of 
the subject of immortality. Gvd only has immortality. 
"The Father hath life in himself." The Son hath life 
in himself, but it was given him that he might give it to 
men. The Holy Spirit in the inner man gives him 
immortality. It has power to assimilate the man to 
Christ, but not to the outward man. "Though our 
outward man perish, the inner man is renewed day by 
day." (Romans 8: 10, 11.) 

Finally, the body is to be redeemed and made alive 
in Christ. There is immortality for the inner man, and 



THE RESURRECTION AND THE EIFE. 225 

incorruptibility for the outward man. These subjects 
were doubtful and dark to the heathen, obscure to the 
Jew, but are clear to the Christian.* 

This brings us to the subject of Christ's glorification. 
The false French idea of glory spoils the sense of the 
word to us. Most history has been written with that 
false idea of glory, which has worked the ruin of the 
French nation. Englishmen fought from a sense of 
duty; Frenchmen for glory. But the true glory of 
Christ is the will of his Father. 



MISCELLANEOUS, 



John's gospel has many deep things. He gives the 
advanced lessons of Christianity. He begins with, and 
treats of, the spiritual Christ. He comes near to him. 
He was the disciple of love ; and he it was who, after 
several unveilings of God's character, could, at the last, 
going into the depths of these things, discern the great 
truth, " God is love." Thus we should expect to find 
in John the deeper insight into the secrets of heavenly 
things. 

There is no complete fullness in any of these men. 
John is the greatest measure, but he is dipped from the 
great ocean of divine love. Put all together, from 
Moses clear down through, and, although it is suf- 
ficient for our wants, it is not the fullness of glory there 
is in God. After all this the Spirit of Truth— the Holy 
Spirit— comes to our aid. It takes the Spirit to discern 
and appreciate these deep things. Spirit only can 
comprehend spirit. " The natural man can not under- 
stand the things of the Spirit. " 

John is the book for Christians; it is not for others. 
In order to understand it we need to be like John. 

There are things here hard to be understood. Not 
as Paul's writings — hard to be understood by the intel- 
lect because of their logic, but because of their spiritual 



MISCELLANEOUS. 227 

depths. Spiritual perception and experience are neces- 
sary to understand John. John has great spiritual 
experiences. 

Logic is not a ladder deep enough to reach the 
seventh heaven; it is short at the upper end. Love 
is intuitive. Jesus did not reason out things ; he had 
that which is higher. Jesus speaks out ot the fullness 
of the truth, which he was. He appeals to the heart. 
Paul addressed himself to the logical reason of men. 
We can not call his testimony in question; but when he 
sets down to reason on the points of his testimony,, is 
there not reason to think that he may put in his human 
weakness ? Some Christians have felt that his reason- 
ing was not conclusive. Good Christians may think so 
and yet not call in question his apostolic authority. 
Paul was called to give his testimony in a logical 
way. 

As John was the last living apostle of Christ on the 
earth, we may think that the latter age of the Christian 
church would be characterized by the spirit of John. 
Some have thought that each gospel marks a particular 
age of the church. Peter represents Romanism, for 
instance; Paul represents the free intellect, or great 
characteristic of Protestantism. 

After all these things is there not to be a great spirit- 
ual unity ? Shall we not be one in spirit ? 

The time is c>ming when John's writings will be the 
great interest of the church. Christianity made perfect 
in love is the grand idea. " Tne watchmen shall see 
eye to eye;" not that they shall reason it out, but shall 
understand by intuition. 



228 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

Women have great impressibility and discernment of 
character, and are generally good advisers. 



Preaching is good, so far as it inspires men to action; 
but it may become a mere pleasure or entertainment for 
the people. 

A man may generally do about as he pleases, if he 
will be polite and agreeable in his words. A man's 
words give more offense than his deeds. 

Some would have thought it better for Christ to have 
worked his first miracle at a funeral ; but what a bright 
light it casts upon the gospel to think that he comes to 
remove fear, and to sanctify the happy social relations 
of life ! Blood and fear were the characteristics of 
the Old Testament; wine and cheer of the New. The 
Christ-made wine was a typical element. 

He sanctified the most holy relation of marriage — the 
only institution that dates back before the fall of man. 
The true love of Christian hearts is the nearest to 
•the Eden-state of anything this side of immortality. 
This was all typical of the marriage of the bride and 
the Lamb. 

; ;: . v- ,.;. . . - 

From what little Jesus says of Satan it seems that he 
spoke of a personal, wicked spirit. There is no creed 
that requires belief in the devil. 

The law of association dominates minds. How 






MISCELLANEOUS. 229 

could we worship in a church where they were making 
soap? "My house shall be called a house of prayer 
for all nations." 

Better do useful work for nothing than useless work 
for money. 

Every place is holy ground if there is a holy man 
there. 

The book of Daniel seems to be a favorite book of 
Christ. He several times refers to it. 



Every one in Israel, head of a family, was a teacher. 
The Sabbath school idea is from the Jews. The syna- 
gogue was formerly a school in which every son of- 
Israel was taught to read the law. 

The scribes taught mechanically. They might have 
known nothing of the divine force of the truth. All 
people can discern if anything is real to the preacher; 
and if it is not real to the preacher it will not be real to 
any one. A man must have divine experience to teach. 
Christ had a great experience of all truth. 

There are several typical cures which show the full 
control of Christ over all forms of evil to man — mental, 
moral, and physical evils of all kinds. 

Why did not Christ pray in his room ? Since he was 
now the Son of man did he find help and inspiration in 



230 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

the influences of nature? Christ's secret prayers took 
much of his time. 



Christ has no reserved relation. We may know all 
we can of him. His relation to the Father we can not 
know. 

There was an instantaneous act of generation which 
was never repeated. Creation is successive, for it is on 
the plane of human comprehension. It is the manifest- 
ation of God to man. Christ, as Messiah, speaks 
concerning us. In the flesh he belongs to us. "I 
have many things to say and judge of you;" not of 
himself, but of the people. Christ makes us feel the 
great responsibility of the privilege of receiving the 
truth. "He that sent me is true." If you can not 
receive my words, God is true. 

This portion of scripture is full of self-assertion. 
This has been spoken of as against him; but how could 
it be otherwise ? He had no consciousness of imper- 
fection, as man must have. If they had been uttered by 
any man these self-assertions would have condemned 
him; but he did not permit himself to be judged as a 
man. His claims made his self-assertion natural. The 
divine Being could not hesitate as man does. Hesita- 
tion would have been proof against his divinity. 

Christ was the only-begotten of the Father. The 
physiological processes of begetting are used as an 
illustration. Christ was a part of the divine nature, 
yet became external to the Father, and went into finite 
conditions. Into him all the divine energy might flow. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 231 

"I do nothing of myself: but as my Father hath taught 
me I speak these things. He that sent me is with me; 
the Father hath not left me alone : for I do always those 
things that please him. As he spake these words, many 
believed on him.'" What joy he must have had in 
thinking of his relations to the infinite Father! and 
what must have been the manner of his expressing 
those feelings ! There must have been something unut- 
terably heavenly in his appearance. What a power it 
had upon some of them who were susceptible! The 
preacher will sometimes have such a power upon the 
people. It is the power of the Spirit. The whole man 
is expressive when quickened by the Spirit, which has 
a moving power. When two harps are tuned together, 
if you sound one the other will vibrate also. So it is 
souls are moved upon by the Spirit of God. This is 
the communion of saints. The people of those days 
believed in personal inspiration. 



There may be an inward unity without chronological 
order. The sense of time is an outward accident. 



The very form of the Scriptures is providental. Some 
things are left doubtful for our good. It is not good 
for the mind to have too much help. 

All the great steps in the progress of God's provi- 
dence begin with a birth. Every great, new work must 
have a new man. It makes us think of the new birth. 
It had been promised from the first that the seed of the 



232 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

woman should bruise the serpent's head. In the 
promise to Abraham this begins to be fulfilled. Isaac 
was the seed of the woman by a miracle. Samuel was 
a gift from God in answer to prayer. Elijah was taken, 
reserved, as though his work was not finished ; and the 
next promise was that one should come in the spirit 
and power of Elijah. I think that Elijah was the 
guardian spirit of John the Baptist. In John was re- 
sumed the long-suspended line of prophecy. .-.-. 

The kingship departed soon after the advent of 
Christ; and the visible presence of Jehovah was gone 
when John came. The birth of John was a new step. 
The seed of the woman began by a miracle, and with 
him came a new blaze of prophecy. John came as did 
Elijah — when there was but little faith and God's peo- 
ple were few; and there was a great spirit of worldliness. j . 
John was the last of the prophets. As such his 
preaching was the very soul of prophecy, and his spirit 
was the true spirit of the prophet of God. The 
prophet was the man of the Spirit; the priest was the 
man of form. In John is embodied the great principle 
of the order of prophets. 

Zacharias was a type of the condition of the people 
of Israel. They were unbelieving and dumb. There 
had been no prophecy since Malachi, and they were 
utterly under Roman despotism. 

John did no miracle. The power of a spiritual life 
is greater than wonder-working. He was unmoved by 
the influence of the people. He was not a reed shaken 
in the wind. He had the backbone of Elijah and the 
lips of Isaiah. What was the spirit and power of 
Elijah? He lacked the spirit of love. He was the 



MISCELLANEOUS. 233 

prophet of Elohim. He thought too much of fire and 
the sword. However, he was humbled at Si.iai. After 
that we lose sight of him, for most part. He may have 
been the founder of the school of the prophets; for he 
gathered young men about him, we know. 

John the Baptist « as also a man of great control. He 
wanted no luxuries, and held iron rule over his flesh. 
Unlike Paul, he had no conflicts; but the man who has 
no such trials can not sympathize with men. John 
leaves the desert, for men who would do good must go 
where men are. 



The Book of .the Acts of the Apostles, in its scope, 
goes from Jerusalem to Rome, and covers the whole 
ground, making the Christian religion universal. It 
contains the germs of all church history, and lays all 
history under contribution. 



Mark 10: 46; Matthew 20: 29; Luke 18: 35. 
Each disciple stands there as a witness : each has a dif- 
ferent individuality; each would receive impressions 
according to his trained powers. Peter, in matters of 
fishing, would see twice as much as Paul could. Luke, 
as a physician, could see a great many things which no 
other one would. (John 14: 2b' ) 

Now, the inspiration is to bring to the mind of each 
that which was impressed upon it. So each is not 
complete in itself, but they are completing to each 
other. Each will tell the facts as he saw them. This 
enables one to account for many differences in the ac- 
counts; but if I thought that every word was dictated 

16 



234 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

by the Holy Spirit I could not account for these things. 
It is the common fact of human testimony. The atten- 
tion of one might have been so fixed upon one blind 
man, that he did not see the other at all. And shall 
not I believe my attention because I did not see it all ? 
They wrote out of their own consciousness, or at 
least memory. There are great difficulties in the theory 
of verbal inspiration. Tom Paine's " Age of Reason" 
was against the received idea of plenary inspiration, 
and could not have been written against anything else; 
but it is a genuine inspiration that enables a man to 
bring to mind the impressions that were made upon it, 
just as 'they were made, preserved from all decay, and 
interpreted in the light of subsequent experiences and 
fullness of light. This can not be true of all Christians 
as Christians. The theory of inspiration, which has 
been held by many, has been a great difficulty and 
hindrance. 

Christianity is a philosophy; not that it is that only, 
but it is a system of thought; a system having its own 
forms and distinct principles. . It differs from other 
philosophies. 

There is a philosophy of reason. We are forced to 
have some system of philosophy in our everyday life. 
This is according to the law of association. One thing 
suggests another. The dog suggests the idea of hunt- 
ing; the string that of fishing. These things we do 
without any particular thought. 

Now, suppose a man takes active control of his 
thinking. He will then think of the organic connection 
of thoughts in their relations, etc. A man may have 



MISCELLANEOUS. 235 

ten thousand thoughts without there being any connec- 
tion for any particular purpose, There is no system 
and no object; but when we connect them together in a 
system we have reflection, 

A mere assemblage of thoughts is not a philosophy. 
There are many thoughts of mere sensation. Systematic 
thought and reflection give us philosophy. 

Man thus begins to look, in upon himself and ask ? 
What am I, and why am I? He begins to look in upon 
himself, and consider his relations to other things. 
This is moral philosophy. The study of man is moral 
philosophy; the systematic study of nature is natural 
philosophy, Natural philosophy naturally comes first, 
Men naturally take to the study of different departments 
of nature and of man. 

Philosophy is man's reflective, connected inquiry of 
himself, nature, relations of things; God, his works, 
character, etc. 

The three great branches of 5 sprung from the 

three sons of Noah. Ham was sensuous, and his de- 
scendants never rose to ideas, only to a few images. 
They were taken away in the providence of God, for 
they did nothing but corrupt. They left only a warning 
to us to avoid sensuality. The other two races came 
on, and were brought together, All modern history 
is the combination of the good and energies in these 
two races. 

The Japhetic race was the great colonizer of the 
world. To them have been given the secular interests 
of the human family. Science, ccmmerce, art, the 
study of nature, and the course of empire, have been 



236 REV. AUSTIN CRAIG. 

under the charge of the Japhetic race. The Semitic 
race had the priesthood. Shem was the religious man 
of the world. Hence the two kinds of thought : physics 
and metaphysics — the philosophy of the Japhetic race. 
The Semitic philosophy was religious. 

The Bible is a great system of thought. Religion is 
a philosophy, though not that only; it has the spiritual 
influence with it. Religious thought has its source in 
God, and goes down to man and nature; natural phi- 
losophy has its source in nature, and works its way up 
to God. Religious thought is deductive; the other is 
inductive. 

Each great nation has had its own characteristic 
thought. Each has left some characteristic contribution 
to the thought of mankind. The Chinese, now sending 
over representatives to our shores, have had a system of 
thought for three thousand years. They have a body 
of wisdom (it is small), or rather a system of political 
economy or of well-being. They have made a study of 
material well being. They were forced to do it, for 
they had not room. Reflective thought is a virtue. It 
is not natural to man, only under the stimulus of God. 
The necessities of life goad us on in all these things. 

The Chinese thought is materialism. There is no 
religion in it. Confucius did worship the gods. There 
is a moral philosophy in his works, but it is more than 
all things else a system of political economy. 

Next to the Chinese are the Hindoos They seem to 
have been by nature a fine people, but they were walled 
in, and were unfavorably situated. Climate and other 
conditions made them a dreamy people in thought; yet 
they had raised every question about nature and God 



MISCELLANEOUS. 237 

that has ever been raised. Their religion was a fatal- 
ism. The great question of the will hung over them. 
They had no freedom of thought, and they could not 
rise from the bondage of nature. 

The influence of climate upon the nervous system is 
like that of novel-reading upon the imagination. There 
was a flow and re-flow of thought, but no divine energy. 
There is no influence of Hindoo thought upon our 
people. We are beginning to receive an influence of 
Eastern thought, however, and it will do us good. 
The East will bring us reverence for antiquity. 

God has long been teaching the world, and China 
has some of his great thoughts for us. The ages past, 
as well as the present, have had lessons from God. 
He is the God of the spirits of all flesh. 



THE END. 




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